The LG V30 was the firm’s first ever phone with an OLED display, but it sounds like the LG G7 is going to go back to the old faithful LCD screen tech, if a new report is to be believed. We’re expecting the new flagship to get its official unveiling before the end of May.

The Investor says the move is mostly a money saving exercise, with LCD panels costing substantially less than OLED ones. Apple’s decision to put an OLED screen on the front of the iPhone X helped to push the handset towards the $1,000/£1,000 mark, and this year Apple is tipped to be launching phones with both OLED and LCD displays.

No other beans are spilled by the new report from The Investor, but we’ve already heard plenty of speculation about the LG G7: it has apparently been redesigned from scratch after LG bosses weren’t happy with the first version of the phone, and we’ve also seen rumors about an optional notch.

OLED vs LCD

Besides the cost to the manufacturer, there’s not a huge amount to choose between OLED and LCD screens. OLED typically provides brighter and more vibrant colors, and improved contrast, but phone makers use a variety of tricks to help close the gap.

What OLED does offer is better power efficiency, meaning less of a draw on the battery. It’s also the only tech that can be practically used on a curved screen, as you can see on the Samsung Galaxy phones – The Investor notes that LG will eventually have to commit to OLED technology, like everyone else, if foldable phones become the norm.

The LG G7 is widely expected to look a lot like the LG G6, one of the first handsets to go for an 18:9 aspect ratio display with minimal bezels, and a Snapdragon 845 chipset is likely to be powering the device. Within the next couple of months we should know for sure what LG has been working on.

Via Android Police