A method for a channel state information (CSI) feedback in an advanced communication system. The method comprises receiving, from a base station (BS), CSI feedback configuration information for a pre-coding matrix indicator (PMI) feedback based on a linear combination (LC) codebook, wherein the PMI comprises a first PMI i1 and a second PMI i2. The method further comprises determining, by a user equipment (UE), the first PMI i1 and the second PMI i2 indicating an LC pre-coder that corresponds to a weighted linear combination of a first beam and a second beam, where a power of a weight assigned to the first beam is 1 and a power of a weight assigned to the second beam is between 0 and 1 and transmitting, to the BS, the CSI feedback over an uplink channel including the determined first PMI i1 and second PMI i2.