LG’s newest handset will be available in the United States only through Comcast’s Xfinity Mobile. For now, at least.
LG this morning introduced the X charge, which sports a 5.5-inch display and features the company’s largest smartphone battery. The phone is targeted at data-hungry users and will be available tomorrow through Comcast's MVNO, which runs on Verizon's network.
The handset manufacturer said the X charge will be “competitively priced” but didn’t disclose the price tag of the new phone. Xfinity Mobile currently offers only one LG phone, the X power.
Phone Scoop was among the first to report the announcement.
"Some users demand more out of their phones than others, or spend more time on the go,” said Chang Ma, president of LG Electronics MobileComm USA, in a press release. “The LG X charge was designed to meet the demands of users who want maximum usage from their smartphones between charges, paired with the advanced flagship features they care about most, like a large HD screen. The combination of outstanding battery life, spacious display and exceptional camera capabilities make the X charge an excellent proposition for customers.”
The X charge does appear to offer some impressive specs. In addition to the fast-charging battery that LG claims can “last an entire weekend” on a single charge, it includes a 13 MP primary camera, a 5 MP wide-angle front camera, a 1.5 GHz octa-core chipset and 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of storage.
The phone runs Android 7 Nougat.
The terms of Comcast’s exclusivity on the device weren’t disclosed, and it’s unclear whether LG intends to make the phone available to other service providers eventually.
Whether the exclusive deal will pay off for either company is just as unclear. Xfinity’s target market is a tiny fraction of those of the major U.S. wireless subscribers, of course, and precious few uses are likely to switch to the MVNO based on a single, low-profile handset. But Xfinity is trying to elbow its way into a very crowded wireless market, and even a modest success could provide a substantial lift for the newcomer.