LG is reportedly preparing a new LG V30 with added AI

The smartphone extravaganza that is Mobile World Congress is coming up fast, and we've just got word of what LG might be planning for the show: an upgraded version of its LG V30 flagship with added artificial intelligence, possibly supplied by Google.

That's according to a report in The Korea Herald, which states that the new phone is going to be called the V30+α or the V30 Alpha. Apparently it's part of a new strategy from LG that's going to see them continue to add new features and extra value to its existing handsets as it continues to compete with the likes of Samsung and Apple.

Other details are very thin on the ground - so thin in fact, that we don't have anything else to tell you about this rumored new handset - but LG will want to have something to show off at MWC 2018 in Barcelona, so this seems like a plausible option.

Looking ahead

We've already heard reports that work on the LG G7 has been completely rebooted as LG looks to make its next flagship the best that it can possibly be. With that in mind, we're unlikely to see LG's premier 2018 smartphone until much later in the year.

And indeed software could be the battleground where the smartphone manufacturers really slug it out over the next 12 months, with hardware designs now all looking so similar across the board. Would you be tempted to buy a new smartphone if its on-board OS was smarter than everyone else's?

Google is being tipped as the company providing the LG V30 Alpha with its extra AI smarts, but we'd expect Google to save its best stuff for the Pixel range. Whatever the truth of the matter, we should find out when MWC 2018 kicks off at the end of February.