LG has announced its third flagship smartphone of 2018 in the LG V40 ThinQ. The South Korean company launched the G7 ThinQ in March, followed by the LG V35 in May and now the V40 ThinQ has arrived to succeed the V35 and sit alongside the G7.

How do the two LG flagship smartphones compare though? This feature puts the LG V40 ThinQ up against the LG G7 ThinQ to see how they differ in terms of features and specifications.

Design

  • LG V40: 158.7 x 75.8 x 7.7mm, 169g
  • LG G7: 153.2 x 71.9 x 7.9mm, 162g

The LG V40 ThinQ and the LG G7 ThinQ both feature premium designs made from a combination of glass and metal. The LG V40 ThinQ is the larger and heavier of the two but both devices come with a FullVision notched display, IP68 water and dust resistance and MIL-STD-810G drop protection.

There is a circular fingerprint sensor on the rear of both the LG V40 ThinQ and the LG G7 ThinQ, but the V40 has a triple lens horizontal camera system on the rear, while the G7 has a dual vertical camera system.

Both devices have a 3.5mm headphone jack.

Display

  • LG V40: 6.4-inch, OLED, 19.5:9
  • LG G7: 6.1-inch, LCD, 19.5:9

The LG V40 ThinQ comes with a 6.4-inch FullView notched OLED display, while the LG G7 ThinQ has a slightly smaller 6.1-inch FullView notched Super Bright LCD display.

Both devices have a 19.5:9 aspect ratio and both have a 3120 x 1440 resolution. This means the LG G7 has a slightly sharper screen compared to the LG V40 with a pixel density of 564ppi over 538ppi.

Both the G7 and the V40 support HDR10 and Dolby Vision.

Hardware

  • LG V40: SD845, 6GB RAM, 64GB/128GB, microSD
  • LG G7: SD845, 4GB RAM, 64GB, microSD

Both the LG V40 and the LG G7 run on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chipset but the V40 features 6GB of RAM, while the G7 has 4GB of RAM.

The V40 is also available in two storage options of 64GB and 128GB, while the G7 only comes in 64GB. Both offer microSD support up to 2TB however, allowing for plenty of storage expansion.

There is a 3000mAh battery capacity in the LG G7 and a 3300mAh battery in the LG V40, and both support fast charging and wireless charging.

In terms of audio, the V40 and G7 both have a 3.5mm headphone jack, both have a HI-Fi Quad DAC and both offer DTS X 3D Surround Sound. The two devices also offer Boombox speaker, which doubles the bass of a conventional smartphone speaker by using the internal space as a resonance chamber. The LG V40 is also tuned by Meridian.

Cameras

  • LG V40: Triple camera system on rear, dual on front
  • LG G7: Dual camera system on rear, single on front
  • Both have AI Cam

The LG V40 features a triple rear camera system, which is comprised of a main 12-megapixel sensor with a f/1.5 aperture, 1.4µm pixels and a 78-degree field of view, a super wide-angle 16-megapixel sensor with an f/1.9 aperture, 1.0µm pixels and a 107-degree FOV and a 12-megapixel telephoto sensor with an f/1.9 aperture, 1.12µm pixels and an 80-degree FOV.

There is Dual PDAF on board for automatic focusing that is claimed to be twice as fast as the industry standard, an advanced HDR feature, as well as new features like Cine Shot for creating images with animation.

The LG V40 has a dual front camera too with an 8-megapixel sensor and a 5-megapixel sensor. Users can create a bokeh effect selfie and there's an on-screen slider to adjust the background blur.

The LG G7 meanwhile, has a dual rear camera, made up of a 16-megapixel super wide-angle sensor with an f/1.9 aperture and a 107-degree field of view, and a 16-megapixel standard sensor with an f/1.6 aperture and a 71-degree FOV.

On the front, the G7 has a single 8-megapixel wide-angle sensor with an f/1.9 aperture and an 80-degree field of view. It features LG's AI Cam too, which uses artificial intelligence to deliver the best shot possible, something the V40 also offers.

Software

  • LG V40: Android Oreo
  • LG G7: Android Oreo

The LG V40 and the G7 both run on Android Oreo with LG's software skin over the top. The software experience between these devices will therefore be similar.

Both devices should eventually see an update to Android Pie, but there is currently no timeline as to when.

Conclusion

The LG V40 ThinQ is the larger of the two devices being compared here, but it comes with a larger display, more advanced camera system, more RAM and a larger battery.

The LG G7 is likely to be the cheaper of the two however and it still offers a premium design, waterproofing, the same chipset as the V40 and it is already available.

We will update this feature once we review the V40 in full, as well as when we hear about UK pricing and availability. It is expected to go on sale around 19 October in the US.