LG's next flagship could ditch the notch in favor of a punch hole

6comments
LG's next flagship could ditch the notch in favor of a punch hole
Concept render based on patented design

The notch first arrived on LG’s smartphones last year with the launch of the G7 ThinQ. Since then, the controversial design feature has tricked down to a number of the brand’s mid-range devices. But a new patent suggests the South Korean company could be ready to ditch it.

Spotted by the folks over at LetsGoDigital, LG filed a patent on March 15, 2019 for a smartphone with a punch hole that’d essentially replace the notch on its existing devices. The application was subsequently granted on April 20, therefore giving LG the go ahead to use the design on future smartphones if it wishes to.

The envisioned device, which is shown from different angles in 14 different sketches, sports an edge-to-edge display paired with extremely thin and almost uniform bezels – the upper bezel is slightly thinner than the others. Like the LG G8 ThinQ, this device sports a single selfie camera and what appear to be Time-of-Flight and infrared sensors for 3D facial recognition and Air Motion gestures. These sit inside an oval-shaped punch hole which is centered in a similar manner to the implementation on Samsung's upcoming Galaxy Note 10.

As per usual, there’s no guarantee LG will use this particular design in 2019 or ever. However, the company does appear to be preparing a new 'Dual Screen' flagship that’ll arrive at IFA in early September. Rumors suggest it could be the 5G-ready V60 ThinQ which would represent the company’s third V-branded device in under a year. As such, a new punch hole display could help LG better differentiate the model.

Recommended Stories

Loading Comments...
FCC OKs Cingular\'s purchase of AT&T Wireless