48-megapixel camera, optional dual screen

LG’s upcoming Velvet smartphone isn’t officially launching until May 7, but the company decided to cut the suspense and reveal its complete specs. 

The specs themselves aren’t revolutionary, but they aren’t bad either: a 6.8-inch display with a waterdrop notch, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 765 5G chipset, a triple, 48/8/5-megapixel rear camera and a 4,300mAh battery. Stereo speakers and AI-enhanced sound, which sets optimal audio quality depending on the content you’re listening, are also on board. 

The way LG lays out this information, in a post on its Korean website, is telling. The company pushes the phone’s curvy sides and the “raindrop” rear camera design to the forefront. LG also emphasizes that the phone is very thin (just 6.8 millimetres) and fairly narrow, at 74.1 millimetres — compare that to the iPhone 11 Pro Max which is 8.1 millimetres thick and 77.8 millimetres wide. The phone is offered in four colors: white, green, grey and sunset. 

In other words, with the Velvet, LG is pushing specs into the background and focusing on the experience, somewhat akin to the way Apple talks about its phones. The LG Velvet certainly looks like a nice device, but we’ll see whether the experience of using it is that much different from using any other LG phone. 

There’s also one fairly big surprise in the post: the LG Velvet will support an LG Dual Screen accessory, as well as a stylus pen — though these will be sold separately. LG has been selling the dual screen accessory with its recent flagships, such as the LG V60 ThinQ 5G, which also has a 6.8-inch display like the LG Velvet, so it’s possible that the same accessory will work for both devices.

The post also mentions that the phone’s launch date is May 7, but it will actually become available in Korean stores on May 15. There’s no word on international availability.