Render gives us our first look at LG's 5G phone for Sprint
LG is expected to introduce its first 5G phone at MWC in Barcelona later this month (February 25th-February 28th). This morning, reliable tipster Evan Blass gave us a preview of the phone when he disseminated a tweet with a render of the LG V50 ThinQ 5G, for Sprint. While it is hard to see because of the darkness of the image, the render seems to show a true edge-to-edge display. It is hard to make out, but there seems to be a small chin. Dual selfie snappers appear in front, and on the back, we can see that the device will carry a triple camera setup with a rear-facing fingerprint sensor.
The LG V50ThinQ 5G render shows a date of February 24th, which is the date of LG's new product event at MWC. At the same time that the LG V50 ThinQ is unveiled, the LG G8 ThinQ will be unwrapped. Which brings up an interesting bit of timing here. Usually, LG waits until the second half of the year to introduce its V-series phone. The V50 ThinQ 5G could be released as soon as next month.
Not much is known about the phone although we expect it to be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Mobile Platform, and include the Snapdragon X50 5G modem. Supposedly, a 4000mAh battery will keep the lights on. The other day, LG announced a new feature for the LG G8 ThinQ that could find its way into the LG V50 ThinQ 5G; this is an OLED panel that vibrates to produce high quality audio. An earlier leak revealed that because of the extra heat generated by 5G phones, the LG V50 ThinQ 5G will be equipped with a dedicated vapor chamber 2.7 times larger than the heat pipe found inside the LG V40 ThinQ. That should allow the extra heat to dissipate without making the handset too warm.
The LG V50 ThinQ 5G is not going to be cheap
The only pricing rumor that we have involving the LG V50 ThinQ 5G (say that 5 times fast) has the device priced in South Korea between 1.3 million won and 1.5 million won ($1,165 USD-$1,354 USD). We would expect that when Sprint does have the device for sale, its pricing will be lower. Speaking of Sprint, back in October, the Vice President of 5G development at Sprint Business, Mishka Dehghan, made some intriguing comments about the phone. He called the LG V50 ThinQ 5G "distinct" and said that it would be a "beautiful, shiny object." He also stated that "What’s really remarkable about the LG device that you’ll see is it’s going to be immediately recognizable, everybody around you will know it’s a 5G device." That could be because of the 5G branding on the back of the phone, right on top.
Besides the LG V50 ThinQ 5G, we expect Samsung to release a 5G phone of its own. The Samsung Galaxy S10X will carry a huge 6.7-inch curved AMOLED display. Like the LG handset, the Galaxy S10X should be equipped with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Mobile Platform in the U.S., and the Snapdragon X50 5G modem chip.
5G networks will offer data speeds that could be as much as 20 times faster than 4G, opening up a whole new word of capabilities for mobile devices. Additionally, the next-gen wireless service has reduced latency (the time it takes for a message or signal to go from sender to receiver). As a matter of comparison, a full length movie that takes seven minutes to fully load over 4G will take just six seconds to load over 5G.
LG V50 ThinQ 5G render for Sprint surfaces
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