LG to launch updated V30 with AI-powered camera this month

LG is launching a new version of its V30 flagship smartphone later this month, and it's going to have an AI-powered camera, the company announced Tuesday.

The new camera technology is called Vision AI, and LG says it worked on it for more than a year.

Vision AI will automatically analyze what the camera sees and, depending on that, adjust the best shooting mode. The modes include portrait, food, pet, landscape, city, flower, sunrise, and sunset. For example, the "food" mode will have warmer colors and stronger sharpening, LG says.

Thanks to Vision AI, the new LG V30's camera will also be able to automatically scan QR codes, do an image search or provide shopping options. And the camera should also be better in low-light situations -- which is one of LG V30's weak points -- as Vision AI will measure the brightness of the actual image instead of external light levels.

The counterpart to this tech is Voice AI, which will allow users to operate the phone's camera through voice commands. That's not a new thing, but with the new version of Voice AI (which works with Google Assistant) will have 32 commands, up from last year's 23. Some of the new voice commands will enable users to take a panoramic photo, a slow-motion video, or perform an image search by simply talking to their phone.

With these new technologies, LG is catching up with some competitors who already have AI-assisted photography in their phones. Huawei's Mate 10, for example, also recognizes certain objects in the photo and adjusts settings accordingly.

This leaves us with one question: What is this "new version" of LG V30 the company is speaking of? Last week's rumors say the company will launch a slightly improved version of that device called the LG V30+‘α’ (please, don't) or LG V30s, with the main improvement being the new AI features and 256GB of storage space.