LG has officially announced the launch of the first smartphone in its popular L Series III lineup, the budget-friendly L90, which will start rolling out this week.

The company unveiled its new L Series III smartphones back at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2014 a little over a week ago, and the L90 is the first model of the family to hit commercial availability.

The new LG L90 launches as the largest and higher-end model in the company's new line of budget smartphones, aiming to combine affordability with premium features and budget hardware specs.

"As the premier model in LG's latest L Series lineup, the L90 features a simple yet stylish aesthetic that the L Series is known for, as well as the most up-to-date UX features," touts the company in its press release on Thursday, March 6.

The new LG L90 sports a 4.7-inch qHD (960 x 540 pixels) IPS display and packs a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 MSM8226 processor clocked at 1.2GHz, backed up by 1GB of RAM. The handset comes with only 8GB of internal storage capacity, but users can expand it via microSD. A 2,540 mAh battery keeps things going.

According to LG, the L90 offers the most competitive hardware in its category. While the above-listed specs may not seem very high-end, they are more than decent for a budget offering. Moreover, the LG L90 comes with the latest Android 4.4 KitKat on board, as well as some other neat software features.

"L90 users will be able to experience the most optimized Android experience thanks to the most current Android 4.4 KitKat operating system. Google's powerful and easy-to-use OS offers a redefined UI that features a more balanced layout and intuitive interface as well as faster performance."

Also on the software side, LG aims to offer L90 owners a superior user experience through its Knock Code feature, the company's latest iteration of its tap-to-unlock system. With Knock Code, LG L90 users will be able to securely unlock their smartphone using one of over 86,000 possible tapping combinations.

"With its competitive specs and exquisite design, we expect the L90 to continue the success of the L Series in the global marketplace," added Dr. Jong-seok Park, president and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. "It offers the very best of LG in design, hardware, OS and UX features so 3G smartphone users worldwide will be able to enjoy a truly first-class smartphone experience."

The LG L90 will hit commercial availability this week. It will roll out in CIS regions at first, but other international markets will follow later on. LG has yet to reveal when or where the L90 will launch next, or how much it will cost, but should offer more details shortly.