Even before the official announcement of the LG G5, it was already known that the company was preparing a variant under Snapdragon 652. Today, it has just appeared on the LG Panama website. The page has been removed in the meantime but is still available in Google's cache. A lighter version dedicated to South America that should boost the company's sales.
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It's a mid-range version between the high end and the mid-range that seems determined to offer us LG with its LG G5 H840. While the Snapdragon 820 processor is replaced by a Snapdragon 652, an octo core chip, the amount of RAM increases from 4 to 3GB. For the rest, nothing changes.
Despite this slightly different hardware configuration, the other technical features remain the same, including the 5.3-inch screen side that retains a Quad HD definition. The dual photo sensor of 16 – 8 Megapixels is still there, as is the removable battery of 2800 MAh and especially the magic slot to insert modules that will extend the functionality of the phone. Virtual reality, on the other hand, will not be part of the game.
As for the motivations of LG, which is about to release a second LG G5 with technical characteristics extremely similar to those of the model presented at the MWC, they are already quite clear. Knowing that this version will be reserved only for South America, at least initially, there is no risk that its sales will cannibalize those of its counterpart under Snapdragon 820. It's quite the opposite, the two will stack up.
Thanks to the processor and RAM concessions, this variant will be cheaper than the flagship model, so it will sell more easily and could represent an alternative of choice in this market against the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge which remain more expensive.