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LG's smartphones could soon adopt the waterdrop notch

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By Joshua Swingle

Published: Jan 29, 2019, 12:45 PM

LG Android

LG's smartphones could soon adopt the waterdrop notch

The Essential Phone's waterdrop notch

The upcoming LG G8 ThinQ is largely expected to retain the wide notch found on last year’s LG G7 ThinQ. But if a recently-published patent is anything to go by, the South Korean brand could soon move towards much smaller alternatives.

The design in question was first filed back in April of last year, just a few weeks before the LG G7 ThinQ was introduced. Because of this, the smartphone described resembles the latter quite closely by including a vertical dual-camera setup on the back and a rear-facing fingerprint scanner. Up front, however, the device looks more like the Essential Phone.

Gone is the wide notch and in its place is a waterdrop-like one that simply houses the selfie. This is combined with thin upper bezels and a wide in-ear speaker which sits along the edge of the frame. Unsurprisingly, the side bezels are just as thin but the bottom chin is rather thick. This would suggest that future mid-range handsets could adopt the design eventually.

The sketches also point towards the presence of a 3.5mm headphone jack towards the bottom and a SIM card tray above. The smartphone includes the usual power key on the right side and volume buttons on the left. Unlike LG’s recent flagships, though, there is no dedicated Google Assistant button – yet another sign that this isn’t a high-end model.

As things stand, the LG G8 ThinQ and LG V50 ThinQ 5G are both set to make their debut at MWC 2019 next month. The brand may also take advantage of the opportunity by showing off new mid-range devices, some of which could sport a design not too dissimilar to this one. Alternatively, as it’s simply a patent at this stage, LG may skip waterdrop notches entirely.

LG smartphone with waterdrop notch patent