LG V30 ‘Project Joan’ renders show us what 2017’s second LG flagship could look like

LG’s flagships have typically come out on a twice-a-year schedule for the last few years; the G Series hits in the spring, and the V series hits in the fall. While the G series has typically been LG’s “mainstream” flagship offering, the V series has instead gone above and beyond in terms of sheer features and adds things — like its second screen — for those who might want more.

If the latest early concept renders of the forthcoming LG V30 are anything to go off of, the V30 might be the biggest departure from the norm we’ve seen yet with that lineup…

Evleaks, otherwise known as Evan Blass, posted several images of an “old-ish mockup” of one idea LG purportedly had for the LG V30 at one point. Before we take a look it’s worth noting that these may or may not actually represent the phone that launches later this year, but the project — apparently “Project Joan” — clearly was at least headed in this direction.

As you can see below, the phone adopts an interesting design that looks like a bit of a mashup between the LG G6, the Samsung Galaxy S8, and the BlackBerry Priv. As you can see, there’s a sleek curved front and rear edges (and a square, centered camera hole) like the Galaxy line, and an aluminum band around the edges that looks very similar to the LG G6. But most interestingly is the design cues the phone borrows from the many slider phones that have preceded it.

Rather than using that slide-out design to reveal a hardware keyboard, however, LG apparently considered using that space to house the “second display” that the V series has become known for. Additionally, there seems to be a part of the “second display” that stays constantly displayed at the bottom even without sliding the phone up.

Weekend bonus: this is an old-ish mockup of Project Joan, a.k.a. the LG V30. Not clear if the project is still headed in this direction. [1] pic.twitter.com/k5jNJ7DyLz

— Evan Blass (@evleaks) May 27, 2017

When you slide the phone up, the bottom display could potentially be used for several different purposes. It can theoretically serve as a place for the software keyboard (which is probably its most practical use, allowing you to take advantage of the full-size display up top as well), it could provide unique functionality depending on the app you’re using (Touch Bar, anyone?), and it could also provide quick access to other apps.

Here's how the device was envisioned to look with the secondary display fully extended. [2] pic.twitter.com/HNkZErj7xB

— Evan Blass (@evleaks) May 27, 2017

It’s an interesting mockup to say the least, but while it’s apparently an official internal design (and not just some crazy uninformed artist rendering), there’s no real evidence that this is what the LG V30 will actually look like. “Not clear if the project is still headed in this direction,” Blass admits in the tweet above. That said, the iPhone 8 is rumored to have some kind of below-the-screen interactive display, so maybe LG is trying to beat Apple to the punch (or at least match them).

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