Summary The company expects sales of the G Flex 2 to be higher than its predecessor.
SEOUL (AP) - LG Electronics Inc. said it will start selling a new curved smartphone next week in its latest effort to bring the curve to a mass market.
The South Korean company said Thursday that the G Flex 2 will be launched locally on Jan. 30 and overseas in coming months.
Curved screens are a way of differentiating high smartphones that have come to share many similar features such as high resolution displays and powerful cameras.
When LG released its first version of a curved smartphone in 2013, it was a niche product. The latest iteration shows LG is targeting a bigger market.
The phone features a 5.5-inch screen curved from top to bottom. In an improvement from its predecessor, the phone s self-healing back can repair scratches in seconds rather than minutes. LG said both the screen and the body are more resilient to shocks than other phones.
LG s hometown rival Samsung Electronics Co. is also experimenting with curved screens. Last year, Samsung released the Galaxy Note 4 Edge, which has a screen on its curved edge that displays information.
LG did not give a sales target but executive vice president Cho Sung-ha said the company expects sales of the G Flex 2 to be higher than its predecessor.
LG did not adopt some of the latest technologies for the G Flex 2, such as quantum dot displays. Instead it has a full high-definition screen.
The G Flex 2 will sell for nearly 900,000 won ($830) in South Korea.
