LG is about to show off its latest smartphone — and more importantly, tell th world when the LG Velvet will be arriving in their country.
The Korean phone maker plans to launch the LG Velvet on Thursday (May 7) at an online event in its home country. Because of the magic of time zones, that means US smartphone shoppers know all there is to know about the LG Velvet tonight.
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Here's where you can follow along with tonight's LG Velvet unveiling and what we already know about this new LG phone.
LG Velvet launch: When it's happening
LG has scheduled a launch event for the LG Velvet on May 7 at 10 a.m. Korean Standard Time. That means U.S. viewers will be able to tune in on Wednesday, May 6, starting at 9 p.m. EDT/6 p.m. PDT.
LG Velvet launch: How to watch
In this era of social distancing, online product launches have become the norm, and LG is following suit. A teaser video for the LG Velvet says that you'll be able to follow along with the phone's unveiling at either the LG Electronics Korea YouTube channel or the company's Facebook page.
One problem: both of those sites are in Korean, and it appears there may not be an English language version of the LG Velvet event feed tonight. You may want to check out the LG Mobile HQ YouTube channel to see if it's picking up the LG Velvet live stream.
LG Velvet launch: What to expect
The LG Velvet isn't exactly shrouded in mystery, as LG has been systematically leaking details about the new phone for a few weeks building up to the May 7 launch. Our LG Velvet hub has the full details, but here's a summary of what we know so far about the phone.
The LG Velvet is essentially the LG G9, a follow-up to last year's LG G8. The phone's new name is no accident — LG says it's getting away from the practice of naming its phones with a series of letter and numbers, at least for its consumer-focused products. And as someone who gets his G series and V Series phones routinely mixed up, that's fine by me.
LG says it's emphasizing design with the LG Velvet, and based on some early images of the new phone, the company's not fooling around here. The most distinctive difference is the rear camera array that trails down the back left side of the phone in descending order — a feature LG says is meant to evoke raindrops. Other design highlights included trimmed-down bezels and an array of four colors for the new phone.
LG's also confirmed a lot of the specs for its new 6.8-inch smartphone, which will feature an OLED screen and a 4,300 mAh battery. There's a Snapdragon 765G powering the device — that means 5G connectivity — buttressed by a rumored 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Those rear cameras will include a 48MP main sensor, 8MP ultra wide angle lens and 5MP depth sensor.
LG Velvet launch: Price and availability
That's the big question we're hoping to hear answered by LG this week: Just how much is the LG Velvet going to cost, and what countries will it be launching in
Tackling that first part, the LG G8X ThinQ Dual Screen — the phone the LG Velvet replaces — debuted at around $699. We'd expect a price around that mark, especially when considering that the higher-end LG V60 ThinQ costs $899. That phone, which arrived earlier this year, runs on a Snapdragon 865 chipset, which is a pricier piece of silicon than the Snapdragon 765 slated for the LG Velvet.
As for availability, the fact that LG is holding this event in South Korea pretty much tells you where it will arrive first. "LG plans to officially launch LG Velvet in the Korean market in the middle of next month," an LG spokesperson told us back in Apri. "More details about global availability will be shared in the coming weeks."
