KACHARAGADLA

LG’s V20 is an Android phone I’d recommend to people who insist on having one of the device’s four cornerstone features: a replaceable battery, elaborate manual video camera controls, excellent audio recording capabilities, or a hi-fi headphone listening experience. If you don’t need anything from that list in your next smartphone — and a lot of people don't — you’re better off buying a Google Pixel XL or iPhone 7 Plus. For upwards of $800 depending on where you buy it, the V20 is priced to compete with the very best phones on the market right now. But it just doesn’t. To be clear, it’s fairly good at what LG designed it to excel at. It’s a gadget for Android nerds and checks all the boxes on high-end specs, build quality, display (yes, there’s still a tiny second screen on the front), and performance. It ditches the modularity gimmick that quickly fizzled out with the G5, and the design is a little classier and safer than the rubber-clad V10 from last year. But it’s also a

LG’s camera module maker, LG Innotek, has been struggling in 2016 due to a slowdown in smartphones worldwide. The company suffered an operating loss of 34 billion won ($30 million) in the second quarter, turning to deficit from a year ago. But it’s expected to rebound—thanks to Apple. One of the major improvements in Apple’s new iPhones is the camera setup. It’s completely redesigned, and upgrades include a wider aperture to take clearer photos in the dark, a 12-megapixel sensor that’s 60% faster, and, most significantly, the iPhone 7 Plus has dual cameras at the back—and LG Innotek is its exclusive module supplier. A close-up view of the iPhone 7 Plus’ dual cameras. (Photo credit: Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images) Cameras are becoming more important for smartphones, and it is also a profitable component to supply. Companies could invest into making better batteries or speakers, but those are only a fraction of the price of an iPhone, meaning less revenue for those parts s