LG Optimus G Pro Coming to U.S. in Q2

The high-end Android smartphone market will gain another competitor in the second quarter of 2013, as South Korean electronics company LG has pegged the U.S. release of its Optimus G Pro for later this year.

On paper, the Optimus G Pro is an extremely capable device. The phone packs a 1.7GHz quad-core processor and LTE capabilities behind a display measuring 5.5 inches. The display is full 1080p HD, with a screen resolution of 1920 x 1080. In terms of pixels per inch (PPI) and how a phone like this compares to the iPhone, consider this: the iPhone 5 display measures at 326 PPI. The Optimus G Pro? 400 PPI.

The Optimus G Pro also features a 13-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, a 2.1-megapixel front-facing camera, 2 GB of RAM, and a 3,140mAh battery to keep that enormous, high-resolution screen lit up.

Android smartphones have long offered larger displays than the original 3.5-inch screen present on the first five versions (original, 3G, 3GS, 4, 4S) of the iPhone. But the “Retina” display introduced on the iPhone 4 is one feature it took Android phone makers a while to catch up on. When the iPhone 5 came out with a larger display, matching or surpassing the pixel density on that device became an important mission for Android partners, and it seems this task is one they’re starting to take seriously.

A U.S. release of the Optimus G Pro will likely put it head to head with the release of Samsung’s highly-anticipated Galaxy S4, which is said to have a 5-inch display that also runs at 1920 x 1080. And, much like the Optimus G Pro, the S4 is rumored to include a quad-core processor and 2 GB of RAM.

Without hard specs to go off of on the S4 side of things, the major difference between the two devices seems to be the extra 0.5 inches in the Optimus G Pro’s display. Could that steer potential buyers in LG’s direction, or will the name recognition associated with Samsung’s Galaxy line win out? We won’t know for sure until both devices are sitting on store shelves.

We’ll be sure to keep you up to date on any new information we receive about the LG Optimus G Pro, including a specific release date, which carriers will be selling the device, and, of course, price. Stay tuned.