Never-before-seen flagship, the LG Rainbow, is being sold to LG employees
A new leak was discovered on Twitter by Android Authority, revealing some startling news about a supposedly ditched flagship from the LG Velvet line, which we never expected to see the light of day.
The out-of-the-blue Twitter leak, coming from tipster @FrontTron, shows that this may not entirely be the case, although we definitely still shouldn't get our hopes up when it comes to getting our hands on one of these mysterious handsets.
LG Velvet 2 Pro (LG Universal 2nd Gen, LG Rainbow, LM-V700N)
— Tron ❂ (@FrontTron) May 15, 2021
Unlocked unit
Approx. 3000 units
Resale prohibited
Black, Bronze, Ivory
Avail. only to Korea LG employees (max. 2 unit per person)
Around USD 170
Around 6 months of After Service (while parts last)
No software updates pic.twitter.com/mSuRpUQDa8
It seems LG has actually been able to complete designing and manufacturing 3000 units of a previously unheard-of high-tier SKU in their LG Velvet line: the Velvet 2 Pro (also known as the LG Rainbow). LG will be selling this elusive smartphone strictly to employees within the South Korean company.
If the leak is to be trusted, these limited units are available to the employees in the colors Black, Bronze, and Ivory (although only Ivory is pictured above). Not only will LG employees be able to buy up to two of the Rainbow phones per person, but they can also expect factory repair services extending about 6 months, or "while parts last."
The LG Rainbow will not be receiving any software updates, so it'll stay as-is, running Android 11 for the rest of its life. The phone will cost roughly USD $170—to put that into perspective, last year's Velvet 5G can be currently found for $280 (it's also expected to live to see Android 13 in the future).
Employees purchasing the Rainbow are not allowed to re-sell, meaning that unless one of them leaks more details on the smartphone, it is likely closed off to us forever.
It had come to everyone's surprise when LG suddenly announced the shutdown of their mobile department last month, after presenting strong smartphone competition for nearly twelve years.
Its business had been dwindling, and although LG was hard at work on and teasing its upcoming flagships—namely the LG Rollable and the LG Velvet 2—after the shutdown announcement, it hardly made sense to expect to ever see hide nor hair of them again.
If LG had only held on to their mobile business for another year, we might have seen these phones in the mainstream. The LG Rainbow certainly has that visual wow factor, judging from the leak. The Ivory version, as seen, boasts a sleek and glossy ivory-colored body, haloed by a thin gold rim around the edges. Fancy, eh? In shape and camera design, it looks nearly identical to the year-old LG Velvet.
While we don't have details on the Rainbow's specs, we do know that the physical volume and home buttons have been ditched in favor of pressure-sensitive touch sensors. LG has always been one of those quirky innovative smartphone brands, and it certainly would have been fun to see what such a phone would feel like.
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