LG Announces 5G Dual-Screen Smartphone, Advanced Biometrics

LG Electronics revealed its new 5G smartphone, which boasts a dual screen that will allow users to watch a film on one screen while searching the internet on the other.

In addition, the company has launched a second phone, the G8ThinQ, which utilizes light sensors to scan the veins in a user’s hand or to recognize their face in order to unlock the device. The front-facing camera can scan in three dimensions, which should make it more secure than other biometric security measures, such as using fingerprints to unlock a phone.

According to Reuters, LG product evangelist David Montanya explained at a launch event that the G8ThinQ technology would be more secure than the FaceID feature in Apple’s iPhone X because there is less than one chance in a billion that someone’s veins structure will match someone else’s.

Users of the G8ThinQ will also be able to activate features through the use of gestures, such as playing or pausing a song or video by twisting their fingers.

LG did not set release dates or prices for the new phones, but did say that the 5G model should be available in the first half of the year.

The company is just the latest smartphone maker to set its sights on 5G. Verizon and Samsung announced in December that they would launch 5G phones in the U.S. in the first half of 2019. Both companies will use Qualcomm modem chips, which recently debuted a new chip to prep for 5G.

The new chip is designed to work with the company’s new Snapdragon X55 5G modem, which will start to appear in devices later this year. The new system will assist original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), speeding up time to launch and performance.

If all goes according to plan, Verizon and Samsung will beat Apple to the 5G market. It’s been reported that Apple is going to wait until 2020 to release the first iPhones featuring the tech.