Stunning LG Velvet makes Samsung Galaxy S20 look boring

LG’s Android phones haven’t really demanded much attention over recent years, but leaked pictures of a 5G-capable LG Velvet show it could be poised to take on the Samsung Galaxy S20.

We’ve seen leaks and teases of the LG Velvet before, showing how it will have a dramatic look that’ll stand out from previous LG phones. But this new leak really hammers home the phone’s neat curved rear design — not unlike that of the Galaxy Note 10 Plus — with interesting circular camera modules embedded on the top left-hand side. Vivid orange and green colour options, along with a pearlescent white and shiny gunmetal grey finishes, complete the phone’s striking look. 

In comparison to the Galaxy S20’s more subdued colors, the LG Velvet really stands out in these photos that were snapped as part of a hands-on experience in Korea. 

The photos also highlight how the rear camera array has a pleasing layout where the large main lens sits above the smaller cameras in size order. This creates the “flowing form factor” that LG has previously teased the phone will have.

A photo of the spec sheet was also posted onto Korean site Naver, which gives us an idea of just how powerful the LG Velvet will be. 

Most notably, it’ll use a Snapdgraon 765 5G-capable chipset from Qualcomm. This chip sits below the flagship-grade Snapdragon 865, but still promises capable if not quite blistering performance, especially as its matched with 8GB of RAM. We’d expect it to do a good job of handling pretty much any demanding app or game. 

Storage comes in at 128GB, with what appears to be an option to add in a microSD card to increase the storage by 2TB. And a 4,500mAH battery should keep the phone going for a good day’s worth of use, especially as it’ll only have an FHD+ display rather than a 4K screen.

The camera looks to have a 48MP lens, which will be supported by an 8MP camera — presumably for wide-angle photography — and a 5MP camera likely used for depth-sensing. 

All in all, this leak points towards the LG Velvet having a powerful just-below-flagship spec, a decent if not top-end display, and a solid camera array, all wrapped up in a sticking design. If LG can offer the phone at a price that undercuts the likes of the OnePlus 8 Pro, it could be onto a winner.