This year is ushering in a whole new paradigm for mobile display technology, as evidenced by the recently released Samsung Galaxy S8 family, but also the LG G6, another recently released flagship to have garnered the attention of those looking for more screen real estate with smaller bezels. LG now looks to be stepping up to the plate with its new design language that started with the G6, and the latest patent from the Korean Intellectual Property Rights Information Service shows what looks like a very bezel-less LG V30 or perhaps the LG G7.
As a follow-up to last year’s excellent V20, LG is expected to announce the new phone sometime this fall. As such, it makes sense that patents would be coming forth at this time to cover any intellectual property created during the process, and the design depicted below is clearly looking like a V-series phone, albeit with the updated styling of this year’s LG G6. The simple drawings show a rounded earpiece and camera module, which is flanked on both sides by the V-series’ hallmark dual display. This would mark the first time the dual display made its way completely across the screen, as previous V-series phones only have the secondary screen to the right of the front-facing camera module. The bezels shown are nearly non-existent, and likely the glass remains flat as both properties coincide with the design of the G6. It’s also likely that the display sports the same 18:9 (or 2:1) aspect ratio featured by the G6, albeit with that secondary display on top as well.
Also noteworthy is the drawing of the bottom of the phone, which shows a single bottom-firing speaker, USB (likely Type-C) port, and the all-important 3.5mm headset jack. Samsung and LG have both decided that keeping this important audio port is valuable to consumers, and creates a huge differentiating factor from other competitors on the market that started removing it in recent months. This year’s V30 will likely be IP68-certified, i.e. resistant to water and dust in the way that the LG G6 is, although whether or not it keeps the military-grade drop-test rating of previous V-series phones remains to be seen.
