LG G6: News and rumors

LG bet it all on mods with the G5, but its “Friends” ecosystem hasn’t been a winner, and the company has not released additional modules to help build the range and entice usage. Rumors that the modular system will be dropped are already spreading. As a result, LG will really have to blow the competition out of the water with its next flagship phone, which we expect will be called the G6.

Here’s everything we think we know about the LG G6.

More: LG G5 review

Digital assistant(s)

Previous reports indicated that the LG G6 would include both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, however recent rumors suggest that instead the phone will only offer Google Assistant. The new report comes from CNET, which says that LG was planning on including Alexa in the phone, but shelved the plan because it didn’t feel ready to include the assistant just yet — and that we should expect the assistant to appear in LG phones later this year.

In any case, the device will be smart. LG has sent out a teaser reading that the G6 will have, “Less artificial. More intelligence,” so it’s clear that AI will be a big part of LG’s push. That could have something to do with the G6 being the first non-Google phone to offer Google’s new digital assistant.

So far, the Google Pixel and Pixel XL are the only phones with Google Assistant, and we first hear in a report from Business Korea, however, the LG G6 could have it too — making the G6 the first non-Google-branded phone to get the new assistant.

If LG did decide to include Alexa, it would be only the second smartphone, behind the Huawei Mate 9, to feature the assistant. LG has integrated Alexa into some of its other products, such as the InstaView refrigerator, so a continued partnership would make sense.