In 2019, LG launched its Stylo 5, and the fans of LG’s phones weren’t exactly thrilled with what the phone had to offer. The smartphone was a very minute upgrade from the LG Stylo of 2018 in terms of specs and design. Luckily, LG returned to the drawing board and came up with a phone that brought plenty of novelties and improvements — enter the LG Stylo 6.

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While the differences between LG Stylo 4 and LG Stylo 5, or lack thereof, were disappointing, the Stylo 6 is a whole new deal. Besides the new eye-catching design, the Stylo 6 also significantly differs under the hood.

In this article, we’ll discuss LG Stylo 6 and LG Stylo 5 and their main differences. Let’s jump in!

LG Stylo 6 vs. LG Stylo 5: A Side-by-Side Comparison

LG Stylo 6 vs. LG Stylo 5: Full Comparison

The LG Stylo 5 and LG Stylo 6 were among the final smartphones released by LG Mobile before their official shutdown in 2021. But, does the LG Stylo 5 compare well to its successor, or are we witnessing another one of LG’s innovation failures? Let’s find out.

Design

Before we dive into their respective designs, it’s important to acknowledge that both the LG Stylo 5 and Stylo 6 are premium-like phones. This means that their design is meant to mimic those of premium-grade smartphones. However, that’s where all similarities with premium-grade models end.

That means no glass back covers or aluminum frames usually associated with premium phones. In fact, the LG Stylo line doesn’t have any branded front glass to protect the screen panel. With that said, both phones are designed as typical bar smartphones.

The LG Stylo 5 features a plastic finish that blends nicely with an aluminum-plastic frame, allowing users to get a firm grip on the device. In addition, the bottom part of the frame features all the essential ports, like the USB Type-C and headphone jack, as well as a charging port and a speaker.

The LG Stylo 5 features a 6.2-inch LCD display with very chunky bezels and a 79.8 screen-to-body ratio — we’ll cover screen performance later. But, things are a little bit different when it comes to LG Stylo 6. The newer model looks nothing like its predecessor, which is a good thing. Instead, LG’s updated design looks so sleek that it can easily be mistaken for a flagship product.

The front is adorned with a 6.8-inch display; no overly-thick bezels, only a teardrop notch for the selfie camera. But, besides the size, the biggest difference in the design department lies within the case construction. The frame is built using aluminum, but there’s no plastic backing. Instead, the back is constructed using NEG glass — a scratch-resistant material similar to Gorilla Glass.

Unfortunately, neither is water and dust-resistant, so we advise caution.

Display

Unfortunately, there isn’t much to tell here, as both devices feature a similar panel — the only difference is the size. The LG Stylo 5 features a 6.2-inch IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen display with a 2160 x 100p screen resolution. This gives approximately 390 pixels per inch (PPI), which is sharp enough to facilitate enjoyable content consumption.

The LG Stylo 6 features a 6.8-inch IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen display covering more than 82% of the front. While both screens don’t have branded glass screens, users have reported that the Stylo 6 has slightly better scratch resistance. However, the screen resolution is 2460 x 1080p across a 6.8-inch screen producing 395 PPI. It’s a negligible improvement compared to the LG Stylo 5.

However, the 10% increase in screen size, paired with pretty solid stereo speakers, makes the LG Stylo 6 better for entertainment.

Stylus

The stylus gave the LG Stylo lineup its name, and both digital pens work as intended on premium-looking budget devices. Removing the stylus on both phones while locked will instantly open a notepad app for taking notes. Both models have pretty good palm rejection, and the stylus can be used for various tasks while the phone is unlocked.

There are some marginal differences between the two. While they can’t actually measure with premium digital pens, LG’s styli work pretty well. However, there’s a noticeable gap between the styli’s tip and the trace on the screen. This has more to do with the screen construction than the device’s actual performance.

That can’t be said for the lag, which is noticeable and marginally smaller on the LG Stylo 6, probably due to marginally stronger specs.

Cameras

Nowadays, thanks to smartphones, everyone has a camera in their pocket. When it comes to cameras, the LG Stylo 5 and LG Stylo 6 are as similar as the Earth and the sky. The former sports a single 13-megapixel main camera, complemented by a 5-megapixel front selfie camera. Both of these have an f/2.2 aperture.

The back camera produces decent photos in good lighting, with pretty good color accuracy and depth of field. However, there’s a slight lack of details in the distance. The low-light performance, unfortunately, is really lacking. The same applies to the selfie camera, regardless of the lighting conditions.

The LG Stylo 6, on the other hand, has seen some upgrades. The phone has three rear sensors, including a 13-megapixel primary lens, with an f1.8 aperture. A 5-megapixel wide-angle lens complements this with an f/2.2 aperture and a 5-megapixel depth sensor with an f/2.4 aperture. The photo quality is decent in good lighting, with solid color accuracy and depth of field.

Unfortunately, distance shots still lack detail despite the increased number of sensors. Low-light performance is, unfortunately, still lacking detail and quite noisy. The front-facing camera does a good job in good light, with plenty of detail and good color accuracy, so that’s an obvious improvement over the Stylo 5. Low-light shots were still subpar.

Both models capture 1080p FHD video at 30 frames per second. However, there’s a noticeable difference in video quality, with the LG Stylo 6 capturing overall better-quality footage.

Software

The LG Stylo 5 shipped out with a dated Android 9.0 Pie, packed into LG’s proprietary UI skin. However, LG’s UI isn’t anything to write home about since everything closely resembles stock Android. Users who manage to get their hands on this phone can expect to update it to Android 10, where the updates stopped.

The LG Stylo 6 offers a slight improvement in this department, as it ships out with Android 11 and LG’s proprietary UI version 9.0. The new version of LG’s custom skin now looks more akin to Samsung’s One UI. It’s clean, easy to use, and offers plenty in terms of customization.

Both phones are equipped with productivity apps, most of which are quite rudimentary or entirely unnecessary. Additionally, most carrier versions of both the LG Stylo 5 and Stylo 6 have significantly more bloatware.

Performance

Performance metrics are closely tied to the phone’s specs, and LG Stylo 6 offers approximately 15% more performance than its predecessor. But, let’s start with the older phone first. The LG Stylo 5 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 480 chipset, an octa-core CPU running at 1.8GHz, and 3GB of RAM.

Unfortunately, the phone lags in just about every conceivable task, ranging from merely unlocking the phone to opening and using apps. Moreover, the performance metrics are so abysmal by today’s standards that having six apps simultaneously severely impacts performance.

Besides poor performance metrics — compared to contemporary models — the phone is equipped with a 3,500mAh battery. This allows users to stream HD videos over Wi-Fi at full brightness for just over six hours.

The LG Stylo 6 offers marginal improvements in the performance department compared to its predecessor. Its MediaTek Helio P35 octa-core CPU sports four cores at 2.3GHz and four cores at 1.8GHz. Paired with the same amount of RAM as the Stylo 5, this offers an approximately 14% performance boost. Unfortunately, the combination of CPU and RAM creates a bottleneck, severely impacting performance.

This is because developers optimize apps for Snapdragon more often than for Helio, despite the latter’s 28% higher performance output. Small RAM and lack of optimization result in a rather poor chipset performance, comparable to that of the Samsung A40, which launched a whole year prior. Despite being one year older, the latter still performs better in all other metrics.

Similar to the LG Stylo 5, the Stylo 6 also suffers from various lags; apps take a second to open, screen transitions are slow, and even the keyboard takes a second to load up. However, the battery on the Stylo 6 has 4,000mAh, which allows for a 12-hour HD video loop at full brightness is solid.

Price

For the price of the new LG Stylo 6, you can get a brand-new Samsung Galaxy A50, which offers better performance across all metrics. However, for just a fraction of the price, you can get a refurbished version of the Stylo 6, which is a much more reasonable price.

Or, you can check out the refurbished version of the Stylo 6 below for cheaper than the new version.

LG Stylo 6 vs. LG Stylo 5: 5 Must-Know Facts

LG Stylo 6 vs. LG Stylo 5: Which is Better?

The LG Stylo 6 offers marginally better performance but significantly longer battery life, which gives it an advantage over its predecessor. Both phones offer poor performance by today’s metrics, making them unsuitable for gaming. But, for those using their phone just to call, text, and perhaps watch an episode of their favorite show, the LG Stylo 6 is a good choice.  

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