‘Leaked’ LG V40 press renders are probably fake

Image: Raymond Wong/Mashable

LG’s upcoming flagship smartphone, the V40, might have a total of five cameras — three in the back and two in the front. 

This is according to press renders unearthed by MySmartPrice, which show the LG V40 from all sides. 

The “leaked” renders, which show the V40 with a notched screen and three rear cameras, look quite convincing — until you look at the details. 

The front and back photos look pretty much what we’d expect them to — check them out in their entirety here. But the images that show the phone from the don’t quite add up. 

The image that shows the V40 from the rear (detail below) shows three vertically oriented cameras, as predicted in rumors dating a few months back. 

But the render that shows the device from the side shows a camera bump that’s consistent with a dual vertical camera, as seen on the LG G7, and not a horizontal camera, as seen on the V40 render. 

Furthermore, the alleged V40’s profile fits LG G7 far better (though not perfectly) than the V30, which has a less curvy back. 

There are other details that just don’t fit. The V35 and V30 have prominent antenna lines on top, and the purported V40 render does not. And finally, the V35 and V30 have only two buttons on the side, positioned quite a bit higher than the buttons on the G7. 

I have an LG G7 and a V30 handy so I took a side-by-side photo (below) to show how these two differ; basically all the details on the G7 (and none of the details on the V30) are consistent with the alleged V40 render. 

Image: Stan Schroeder/MashabLe

None of this is proof that the renders aren’t genuine. Maybe LG is making the V40 a lot more like the G7 — though this doesn’t explain the camera bump discrepancy. It’s possible that the front and back renders are real and the rest was “borrowed” from an existing device, and it’s even possible that LG made the error itself in its own (yet officially unreleased) renders. But I’d definitely take these with a big chunk of salt. 

Now that we’ve established a fair dose of suspicion towards these renders as being official, we can still entertain the possibility that the V40 will have a notch, a dual selfie camera and a triple rear camera. 

Dual selfie cameras aren’t that uncommon these days, and the age of the triple rear camera began with the Huawei P20 Pro. LG has launched several phones with dual rear cameras before, and I could definitely imagine the company taking it a step further on its next flagship. 

LG will probably launch the V40 in September (but not during the IFA trade show in Berlin, which takes place Aug. 31-Sept. 5). The company’s smartphone division hasn’t been profitable in ages, but their flagships have been solid in recent years, and I’m excited to see what the V40 has to offer.