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The LG Velvet 5G looks gorgeous in this official video

By Joshua Swingle

Updated: Apr 27, 2020, 6:09 AM

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The LG Velvet 5G looks gorgeous in this official video

LG recently announced plans to revamp its smartphone business with simplified branding and a new design language. The LG Velvet is the first product of that strategy and today an official video that showcases the device in its entirety has been shared.

Three cameras and flashy colors

Most premium smartphones and even some budget devices now feature large camera modules positioned in the top-left corner. Included inside these are multiple sensors that offer a superior camera experience.

The downside is that many are far from aesthetically pleasing. The iPhone 11 Pro implementation is rather controversial, the Google Pixel 4 bump is quite boring, and the Galaxy S20 Ultra alternative is simply massive.

LG has taken note and chosen to go down a different road. The LG Velvet adopts an elegant vertical camera layout that trickles down the rear glass like raindrops, with the top camera being the largest and the bottom LED flash the smallest.

That is coupled with curves on either side to make it easier to hold and the LG logo towards the bottom. To better stand out from the crowd, LG has also selected a range of glossy finishes.

These include a standard black model, a new emerald green variant, and a special white version that reflects a rainbow-like group of colors under certain lighting conditions. The LG Velvet will also be available in a gradient pink-orange finish.

A curved-edge notched display

Adorning the front is a large display complete with curved edges on either side, extremely thin bezels, and an impressively small chin. It also utilizes what seems to be the increasingly popular 21:9 aspect ratio.

Completing that setup is a notch and presumably an in-screen fingerprint scanner. LG adopted the former in 2018 and, although many others have now replaced it with a punch hole, the company has chosen to remain loyal for another year.

Fortunately, this particular implementation seems to be LG’s smallest one yet. It has achieved this by removing all unnecessary sensors and shaving down the bezel around the selfie camera, which hasn’t yet been detailed.

Sandwiched between the front and rear panels is a metal frame, potentially carved out of stainless steel, that houses individual volume buttons and one for the Google Assistant on the left side. The power key sits on the right side.

The top of the LG Velvet is home to the SIM Card tray and a microphone, while the bottom includes a USB-C port alongside a speaker and the beloved 3.5mm headphone jack.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 765 and 5G support

LG has so far revealed very little about the internal hardware being used by Velvet, but today it has confirmed the presence of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 765.

The chipset has been included inside the Nokia 8.3 5G and could be used by the Google Pixel 5 later this year. It should provide a very decent level of performance but will obviously be a little slower than the Snapdragon 865 used by the LG V60 ThinQ.

The huge upside is that it retains support for 5G networks. That means the LG Velvet should be one of the cheapest 5G smartphones on the market at launch, which will surely help it stand out from the crowd.

Unfortunately, there is no official word just yet on how much the LG Velvet will cost or when it will be released.