Not feeling rich enough to spring for the 108-megapixel Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra? LG may have a wallet-friendly alternative. The other major Korean phone maker just announced three new midrange Android models, the leading one of which features a 48-megapixel main camera.

The LG K61 (shown above) has a really interesting camera layout. On the back, there's that 48MP sensor, along with an 8MP wide-angle, 5MP depth sensor, and 2MP macro camera, but no "zoom" camera. The K61 is joined by the K51S, which has a 32-megapixel main camera, and the K41S, which has a mere 13MP unit.

All three new phones have 6.5-inch, 20:9 displays; 4,000mAh batteries; and "2.3GHz octa-core" processors. That's an odd speed, and I couldn't find any Qualcomm or MediaTek chipsets that match both a 2.3GHz speed and support for 48MP cameras. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 comes close, but it tops out at 2.2GHz; the MediaTek Helio P30 and P35 run at 2.3GHz, but don't support the high-res camera.

LG K51S

The phones are pretty big, given the large screens and batteries; they're all around 3 inches wide and 0.32 inches thick. They're military-standard 810G durable and waterproof, and they have standard headphone jacks, rear-mounted fingerprint sensors, and dedicated Google Assistant buttons, but they don't have removable batteries.

LG's midrange phones used to be solid, reliable best-sellers, but their profiles have fallen in the US in recent years. That said, Counterpoint Research still marks LG as the No. 3 player in the US market after Apple and Samsung, with a 12 percent market share as of Q3 2019.

Currently, LG's best-selling midrange line in the US are the Stylo phones, big-screen devices that have a capacitive stylus. Analyst firm Wave7 Research described the Stylo line as "a powerhouse at prepaid" in its most recent report, with the carrier's lineup taking about 25 percent sales share at Metro by T-Mobile, right behind Samsung.

Metro by T-Mobile sells the LG K40 for $179.99, but Cricket, Boost, and the mainline carriers do not. Rather, they sell the LG Aristo and Tribute series, which are even lower-end lineups. The Stylo, Aristo, and Tribute phones go for low prices, which means that if US carriers decide to take some variant of the K61 or K51S, we'll be seeing high-res cameras really penetrating down the market.

LG says the new models will be coming to "the Americas" in the second quarter, and didn't specify a price. We're most likely to see them remixed at our carriers with new names.

Further Reading

Mobile Phone Reviews