Samsung on Wednesday confirmed that it’d sell foldable and 5G phones next year. After that, a video from Asia showed us a hands-on demo of a foldable smartphone from an obscure Chinese company that may have just stolen the “world’s first” title from Samsung and Huawei. The same leaker who posted the video said that at least three phone vendors, not including Samsung, will unveil foldable handsets at CES 2019 in January. And now another source says that LG might be one of those companies.
Frequent leaker Evan Blass said in a tweet that he knows LG plans to unveil a foldable phone during its CES keynote, without revealing any details about the device:
I can't speak for Samsung…
…but I do know that LG plans to unveil a foldable phone at its 2019 CES keynote.
— Evan Blass (@evleaks) October 31, 2018
It’s not surprising to hear that LG wants in on the whole foldable phone craze. LG’s ambitions in the mobile business aren’t dead, and the company is still looking to compete against the big names. Plus, foldable handsets just happen to be the next big thing for smartphones, considering they might be the only viable way to further extend the display of a device without increasing its footprint.
LG’s latest flagship is the V40 ThinQ that was unveiled in early October, a phone that sports a large screen and a triple-lens camera on the back. However, various other Android handsets launched this month have done their best to make us forget about the V40. It’s likely that LG will launch a G8 phone next year, but if this new rumor is accurate, then its first foldable handset might be the most exciting handset LG launches next year.
On top of that, LG is probably also interested in having other Android vendors buy whatever flexible screen technology its display arm may be developing. A report about a year ago said that LG and Apple were working on a secret display project that the iPhone maker wanted to keep hidden from Samsung — a screen that may be used for a foldable iPhone that could launch as soon as 2020. After all, LG Display has been making foldable displays for quite a while now, and Lenovo may use one of them for a foldable laptop.
Samsung, meanwhile, is expected to unveil its foldable handset in November, at its developer conference, although the handset isn’t supposed to start selling until next year. Huawei’s first foldable phone will also be a 5G-ready phone, although it’s unclear when Huawei will announce it.
