SEOUL: LG Electronics launched on Tuesday its new flagship smartphone which will have to compete against a flurry of new products from rivals Apple and Samsung who currently dominate the global market.

The South Korean electronics giant said the new gadget — called Optimus G — would hit domestic stores next week before sales begin in Japan in October and other regions including North America in November.

The launch comes days after Apple unveiled the much-anticipated iPhone 5 which garnered more than two million orders in just 24 hours.

Samsung Electronics, which has sold more than 20 million of its Galaxy S III smartphone launched in late May, is set to introduce the newest version of its popular oversized Galaxy Note smartphone in the market soon.

“It's inevitable for these flagship products to compete head-to-head ...but we are expecting very significant and surprising figures for this product,” Park Jong-Seok, head of LG's mobile unit, told reporters.

He refused to elaborate on the sales target.

The Optimus G Powerhouse is built around Qualcomm’s  Fusion 3 Chipset which pairs a 1.5 GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro SoC (APQ8064) with a 2G / 3G / LTE radio (MDM9615).

The Optimus G houses a 4.7-inch 1280 x 768 True HD IPS PLUS display, 2GB of RAM, 32 GB of built-in storage, a 13-Megapixel autofocus camera with illuminated sensor with 1.1µm pixels, an f/2.4 autofocus lens and a single LED flash, a sealed 2100mAh Li-polymer battery rated for 800 charge cycles, NFC and runs Ice Cream Sandwich.

The overall simplicity and elegance in design is similar to their previous Chocolate and Prada models – it’s thin (8.45mm/ 0.33-inch) and relatively light for its size (145g/ 5.11 oz).

The Face of the Optimus G has a glass surface with three capacitive buttons and the back showcases LG’s Crystal Reflection process: an attractive patterned glass-like finish which gives the handset the ability to display different patterns depending on the viewing angle and lighting.

The folks at LG are placing a lot of emphasis on how the user experience benefits from the Optimus G's quad-core Krait CPU and Adreno 320 GPU - something it calls "cross-tasking".

This includes capabilties like QSlide Function, Live Zooming, Dual Screen Dual Play, QuickMemo, Screen Zooming, Application Link and Icon Personalizer, plus camera funtionality such as Time Catch Shot, Cheese Shutter, Smart Shutter and Low Light Shot and Noise Reduction.

The build quality and materials used are superb (superior to the Galaxy S III) and the Optimus G feels great to hold.

There is a Volume Rocker and a micro-SIM card slot on the left edge and the power/ lock key on the right. A standard headphone jack sits on the top side, with the micro-USB/ MHL connector on the bottom.

There is a front-facing 1.3 MP camera with a notification light next to it. The Display is definitely high quality but not mind blowing (the One X display is better), although it was expected that LG’s True HD IPS PLUS display together with Zerogap Touch Technology would trump most in the market.