LG teases an upcoming Velvet flagship phone, with its all-new design

LG G8
The LG G8. (Image credit: Future)

LG's next flagship phone will be called the LG Velvet, the company has announced – and it's going to come with the reimagined design that we saw a preview of earlier this week.

It seems LG is going to reveal this phone bit by bit: after those early design sketches, we now have a few more details via an official press release. There's talk of "distinctive designs" and "tactile elegance", and a move away from a focus on tech specs.

The Velvet is LG "moving away from alphanumerical designations in favor of familiar and expressive names that will help the consumer capture the essence of the device" according to the manufacturer.

And why Velvet? "The name... is intended to evoke images of lustrous smoothness and premium softness, two key characteristics of the new phone," says LG.

More details to follow

Unfortunately, all these fine words and careful branding aren't yet accompanied by any solid information about the phone. We don't know when it's going to appear, though a reveal date of May 15 has been rumored.

What we do know is that LG is moving away from the G branding for its flagship phone line, so the LG G8 will be the last of its kind (as far as the naming goes, anyway).

We've heard speculation that a quad-lens camera and a Snapdragon 700 series chipset could be on the cards for the new device, and the screen size could stretch to something as big as 6.9 inches, if the rumor mill is to be believed.

We won't know anything for sure until LG announces it though – and so for now all that's certain is that the phone is called the LG Velvet, and it's arriving soon.

David Nield
Freelance Contributor

Dave is a freelance tech journalist who has been writing about gadgets, apps and the web for more than two decades. Based out of Stockport, England, on TechRadar you'll find him covering news, features and reviews, particularly for phones, tablets and wearables. Working to ensure our breaking news coverage is the best in the business over weekends, David also has bylines at Gizmodo, T3, PopSci and a few other places besides, as well as being many years editing the likes of PC Explorer and The Hardware Handbook.