LG Velvet 4G Launched With A 2018 Processor

As with any LG smartphone, the LG Velvet launched with mostly positive feedback and so far negligible sales. While a departure from LG's years-old design, its latest mid-range smartphone under a new naming convention may have not impressed buyers with its actually capable processor. The good news is that LG has silently launched a variant running on a Snapdragon 800 series chipset. The bad news, not only does it sacrifice 5G, but the Snapdragon 845 isn't even last year's headlining processor.

The price difference between the normal LG Velvet and the 4G-only LG Velvet is almost unbelievable, 650 EUR against 499 EUR, respectively. You'll probably have mixed feelings about how a 5G-capable system-on-chip is more expensive than a 2018 high-end SoC. That, perhaps, reveals just how much 5G actually costs, especially when manufacturers don't really have the option to leave it out this time.

In all other aspects, the 4G LG Velvet is exactly identical to the 5G LG Velvet, from the design to the cameras. That means the same 6.8-inch FHD+ screen with a tiny notch, the same 48 megapixel main camera, 8 MP wide-angle camera, 5MP depth sensor, and a distinct lack of a telephoto camera.

The listing that silently went live on LG's German website points to a configuration with 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage, pretty much the baseline for the smartphone. It is thankfully compatible with the Dual Screen accessory, including the ability to use any Wacom AES pen to write on the screen.

Of course, the question that will be on buyer's minds is whether the 2018 Snapdragon 845 still has what it takes to run with the 2020 Snapdragon 765G. Given Qualcomm's track record, that is almost a "yes", which then makes it a question of whether you will actually miss anything other than 5G when reaching for this otherwise more accessible and, therefore, more enticing offer.