LG is not-so-subtly hinting at the type of smartphone it will announce at the forthcoming IFA technology trade show in Berlin. Through a short YouTube video, LG shows a Pac-Man-style game being played on a phone screen before the character escapes out into a second screen that unfolds like a book.
“Unfolds.” Yes, that’s the word we used, and it’s a major design trend in 2019 with two of LG’s rivals announcing (but not actually launching) folding smartphones this year already. Is this teaser evidence we’re about to see what LG can do, after a wealth of rumors? After all, it knows a thing or two about flexible screens.
Digital Trends asked LG’s head of global communications, Ken Hong, about the likelihood of a flexible display folding smartphone from the company at IFA. “There are no flexible display phones in our immediate plans,” he responded.
Not a huge surprise, but now that our expectations have been managed, what excitement does LG really have planned for IFA? The answer could be found in its lineup at MWC in February. The V50 ThinQ 5G was demonstrated with a dual-screen case, extending the phone’s multitasking functionality. It was useful for checking calendar appointments while writing email, or for watching videos or browsing the web while chatting with friends. The larger screen expanse made this more pleasurable than split-screen multitasking on a single screen phone.
If LG has already made a dual-screen case, the natural progression is surely to more neatly integrate the case into a phone, creating a manageable dual-screen phone, rather than only offer something like it as an accessory. What’s more, the dual-screen case for the LG V50 ThinQ was not announced for the U.S., so this may be the first time U.S. buyers will be able to try a fold-out, dual-screen system.
Exactly how the dual-screen system — if that’s what is coming — will work isn’t clear though. The V50 ThinQ’s case was problematic because it meant you had to open it to see notifications and the time. The IFA 2019 teaser ends with a window on the closed phone, showing the time and date of the launch event, hinting that at least this may have been solved.
LG will hold its IFA 2019 press conference on September 6 at 10 a.m. local time in Berlin, when we will find out more.
