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The LG K8 (2017) unveiled earlier this year at CES in Las Vegas appears to be heading for its US market debut. The smartphone was recently spotted in an FCC Class II Permissive Change certificate, and carries model number “LG-VS501”, indicating that the smartphone at hand is likely destined for a market release through Verizon Wireless.
LG Electronics seems to be taking care of the necessary formalities prior to the LG K8’s market launch in the United States. With that in mind, the company recently applied for a Class II Permissive Change to its original FCC application for the LG K8, this time around specifying that the ‘LG-VS501’ is “identical to the previously certified” model, save for some hardware changes regarding antenna and PCB (printed circuit board) adjustments. As per usual, the FCC application doesn’t reveal any details regarding the smartphone’s exact hardware specifications, but the good news is that LG already officially uncovered the global LG K8 earlier in the year, and apparently Verizon’s model should have similar components, as mentioned in the Class II Permissive Change application. As such we can assume that the ‘LG-VS501’ should accommodate a 5-inch IPS LCD display with a resolution of 1280 x 720 and a pixel density of 294 pixels per inch, a Qualcomm MSM8971 Snapdragon 425 System-on-Chip housing a quad-core Cortex-A53-based CPU operating at frequencies of up to 1.4GHz per core, and 1.5GB of RAM. The device should also house 16GB of on-board storage expandable via microSD, and pack a 13-megapixel primary camera complemented by an LED flash and a front-facing 5-megapixel sensor. The smartphone is powered by a 2,500mAh battery, it runs Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box, and takes advantage of a rear-mounted fingerprint recognition sensor.
The new LG K8 is part of the company’s ‘K’ mid-range series, whose sequels – including the LG K3 and LG K4 – were unveiled at CES 2017. The original LG K8 was launched in April 2016, and needless to say the time for a follow-up model is closing in. As yet there’s no telling when the LG K8 will hit Verizon Wireless’ shelves, but with one less formality standing in its way, it shouldn’t take much longer before LG and/or Verizon spill the beans on the smartphone’s Stateside release.
