No Foldable Phone to Be Unveiled at MWC
Kwon Bong-seok, president and head of LG Electronics' Mobile Communications (MC) & Home Entertainment (HE) division, held a press conference at LG Science Park in Seoul on Feb. 15 and said, "We will unveil the premium G8 phone for the fourth generation (4G) network, the V50 for 5G, as well as a dual-display phone at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2019 in Barcelona and also release the Q and K budget series."
Kwon said, "The new G8 flagship model will allow users to have a new level of experience with the Z camera equipped with a time of flight (ToF) sensor. Conventional smart phones recognize visible items such as fingerprints and faces, but we have equipped the new phone with a security system that recognizes the user's original and specific characteristics through the Z camera."
Kwon said, "This year will be the first year of 5G commercialization, and carriers in major countries, including Korea and the United States, will start to provide the service. LG Electronics plans to launch a two-track strategy of launching both the 4G premium phone G8 and the new 5G phone V50 this year," he said.
The new V50 for 5G network is likely to be priced higher than the 4G phone, around one million won (US$889.60).
The company decided to launch a dual-display phone instead of a foldable phone, thinking that it will be safer to launch the foldable after the market has matured. "We reviewed the option of launching the foldable phone with V50 but decided not to in such an early stage of the 5G market," Kwon said. "We just decided to focus on providing the best 5G experience with the dual-display that will be unveiled at MWC."