LG is no stranger to full-screen displays or alternative display designs, and the latest patent out of the Korea Intellectual Property Rights Information Service (KIPRIS) shows a rather unique-looking aesthetic. There has been a ton of new phones with full-screen displays at this year’s Mobile World Congress and while some have notches, others have been able to pack the entire screen in without any breaks in their design. LG’s latest patent seems to deal with the need for an earpiece and front-facing camera in a very different way though.
Much like we saw with the Essential phone last year, LG looks to have a small cutout near the top of the screen, likely for the earpiece, although it’s possible a small front-facing camera could be placed in this cutout as well. The most interesting part here is the fact that there’s an obvious place for the status bar up top, unlike most notch designs that break up the status bar with little heed to what the status bar is actually for. We’ve seen different designs for notifications from various LG phones, like the original V10 and the V20 that succeeded it, which placed all scrolling notifications in the secondary ticker display just above the main screen.
The design here uses a 19:9 aspect ratio, similar to other full-screen phones that have a notch, and the patent includes a full ribbon cable and housing assembly below to attach the screen to the phone’s mainboard too. Exactly what LG has planned isn’t included in the patent, but given that it has more than just a simple display size or shape in the patent, it’s clear LG is far along on the design process of this new display. Could it be for the upcoming LG G7, or possibly a true follow-up to the V30, instead of the V30S ThinQ that was announced at this year’s MWC? It’s very interesting regardless and shows that there’s plenty of novel, and possibly good, ideas floating around about how to fit more screen into the same phone body. Still, being just a patent, there are no guarantees this design will ever be commercialized.