Amid all of the drama surrounding various 2016 flagships and their unlocked bootloaders, LG has recently updated its policy for the LG G5. While all carrier models in the U.S. will continue to sell with locked bootloaders, some users, particularly of the H850 International/European model of the LG G5, will be able to unlock the device’s bootloader using LG’s own unlocking tool.
Users can find detailed instructions on how to unlock the LG G5 bootloader at the LG Developer website . Currently, devices that can be unlocked with the software are the LG G5 H850 and the LG G4 H815, also for the International/European market.
In March, LG announced that its T-Mobile model of the LG G5 would ship with a locked bootloader and users would not be able to unlock it. This was a blow to many Android enthusiasts, who often rely on T-Mobile to provide handsets on which they can perform high-level rooting and customization. Many Android users suspected bootloader unlocking would be available for the LG G5 International model.
The LG G5 H850 model is currently available, carrier unlocked, at Amazon for $899 . Like many GSM devices, it should be compatible with AT&T and T-Mobile networks. However, the U.S. is not its native market, so there could be differences in performance. Users should keep in mind that unlocking the bootloader on a device will void its warranty and for the LG G5, will permanently unlock the device with no option for reverting back to a locked bootloader.
T-Mobile also announced in March that the Samsung Galaxy S7 would ship with a locked bootloader. All U.S. models of the smartphone, featuring the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 chip, have locked bootloaders, but users can root Galaxy S7 models with the Samsung Exynos 8890 chip, or basically most models outside of the U.S.
The HTC 10 will go on sale in May and will be able to have its bootloader unlocked. Developers already have the TWRP recovery software ready for the HTC 10, despite it not yet being on the market.
