LG released its flagship LG G4 smartphone earlier this year to positive reviews, with its camera and 1440p display singled out for praise. Now, thanks to a posting on Weibo in China, rumors suggest that the LG G5 will arrive early next year and be just as impressive as its predecessor.

A user named Zealer posted the rumored LG G5 specifications and details on the Chinese microblogging site, but the post was taken down soon after. He claimed that the smartphone will feature a 5.6-inch display, which would make it 0.1-inches bigger than the G4. It's also said to keep the 1440p screen, and will feature a Snapdragon 820 CPU and an Adreno 530 GPU under the hood - both components are upgrades from the G4's Snapdragon 808 and Adreno 418.

It's claimed that the G4's class leading, rear-facing camera is getting the biggest spec boost - up from 16 megapixels to 21 megapixels. Although it's reported that the front-facing camera will drop from 8MP on the G4 to 5MP on the G5.

Two new features that are rumored to be appearing on LG's next flagship device are a fingerprint scanner, which is pretty likely as they're found on most high-end smartphones, and an iris scanner. Only a handful of devices use iris scanners right now, but more companies are rumored to be bringing the technology to their upcoming products, including Samsung for the Galaxy S7.

LG, meanwhile, has reportedly been working with Irience, an iris recognition device company - so an eye scanner appearing on the G5 may be a strong possibility.

Finally, Zealer claims that the LG G5 will be launched around February next year. Given that this is the same month the Mobile World Congress takes place, it may be that the G5 gets an official announcement this month, rather than a release.

Like all rumors, it remains to be seen how many of these claims turn out to be true. But if Zealer's G5 details prove to be accurate, could we see LG's smartphone become a serious contender in a market dominated by Samsung and Apple?