Even though Motorola offered genuine leather-based backs for the Moto X, and used leather for the Moto 360, it hasn't stopped LG from stealing headlines for its new G4.
LG is making smartphones with optional leather backs as it looks to distinguish its phones from Apple's iPhones and Samsung's Galaxy smartphones.
LG's mobile CEO Juno Cho confirmed LG's belief that smartphones have become clones of one another, at a wireless trade show in Barcelona, Spain, last month.
"I was almost shocked," Cho told The Associated Press. "Almost all the phones on display and introduced looked very [much the] same -- the same metal casing and emphasis on thinness; overall form factors that are very similar."
The message at a recent announcement of the new G4 was an emphasis on being unlike the others.
Apple and Samsung dominate the smartphone market, with LG Electronics and other companies vying for third place with market shares of less than 5% each.
LG will make phones with traditional backs using metal or ceramic as well, although it said leather models will cost more in some markets. The G4 is available in LG's home country of South Korea and it will debut around the world very soon.
