Did Dubizzle scupper the launch of LG’s latest smartphone?

As the tech world assembles in Barcelona for this week’s annual Mobile World Congress, all eyes turn to the globe’s biggest smartphone manufacturers to find out what new technology they have in the pipeline to drip-feed to the public over the next few months.

In the constant battle to make headlines, the details of any new device are usually kept under wraps so the company can make a splash at the official unveiling. And while LG had planned to give the public the first glimpse of their brand new G5 smartphone at MWC on Sunday, it seems that one opportunistic Dubizzle user might have taken the wind out of their sales by offering what appears to be a pre-release model of the G5 for sale on the Dubai-based platform before the announcement. The device (pictured), which carried a G5 logo on the back-plate, was put up for sale for AED 2,500 but was swiftly removed from the site. It’s unclear if anyone had the chance to put in an offer but we’d like to think that there’s someone wandering around Dubai with this impressive bit of pre-launch tech.

The G5 announcement went ahead as planned in the end, with the device confirmed to have a 5.3-inch screen with a 2560 x 1440 resolution, the latest Snapdragon 820 chip from Qualcomm and a dual-sensor spherical camera that captures either 16-megapixel stills or up to 2K video. One of the more interesting features of the G5 however is what is being called the “Magic Slot” at the bottom of the phone which will allow users to add an array of accessories to the device, including a new high-end audio add-on from Bang & Olufsen, a camera grip module, as well as being compatible with a new VR headset, a 360 degree spherical camera and a smartphone-controlled “drone” called the Rolling Bot

Not to be outdone, fellow South Korean smartphone giant Samsung also launched their latest devices on Sunday, the revamped Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge. And while there were no surprises with the updates to their flagship range, they did have one trump card up their sleeve in Mark Zuckerberg, on hand to talk up Facebook and Samsung’s VR partnership and demo the latest Samsung Gear VR headsets.