LG Rumored To Debut Foldable Smartphone At CES 2019 In Las Vegas
LG has been flexing display technology for quite some time now—just look at the curved screen G Flex, which LG released five years ago, followed by the G Flex 2 in 2015. More recently, LG Mobile CEO Hwang Jeong-hwan confirmed that the South Korean electronics maker plans to the up the ante with a foldable smartphone. When will that happen? According to Evan Blass, a prominent leaker who goes by @evleaks on Twitter, it will debut at the Consumer Electronics Shows in January.
LG Flex 2
That is right around the corner, with the annual event kicking off in a little over two months in Las Vegas. It's not clear when LG might actually launch a foldable phone to retail, as a lot of the products shown off at CES are initial unveils and introductions. Some are even prototypes that never make it past the conceptual stage.
We don't believe that will be the case with LG's foldable phone, not with all the buzz lately on phones with bendable displays. Samsung is a name that comes up often in that regard. Blass hinted that Samsung might also show something off at CES, though he doesn't have any official information to share.
I can't speak for Samsung...
— Evan Blass (@evleaks) October 31, 2018
...but I do know that LG plans to unveil a foldable phone at its 2019 CES keynote.
"I can't speak for Samsung... ...but I do know that LG plans to unveil a foldable phone at its 2019 CES keynote," Blass says. In a follow-up tweet, he added, "Don't take that to mean that Samsung isn't also showing theirs at the show—I've read that they are—as it only means what it says. I can't personally speak to it."
What's also not clear is how well these devices will ultimately be received by consumers. Samsung and LG are testing new waters here, the former with its upcoming Galaxy F or Galaxy X (both names have accompanied folding screen phone rumors) and the latter with whatever it has up its sleeve. The same goes for Huawei—its next-generation phone is said to be foldable and 5G ready.
CES kicks off Thursday, January 8 and runs through Saturday, January 11. It's expected to feature 4,500 exhibiting companies across 20 product categories.
