LG Unveils Carbon-Fiber Phone제니카페<cafe.naver.com/writergeni>

LG Electronics’ Black Label phone By Cho Jin-seo

Staff Reporter

LG Electronics unveiled its third Black Label series phone Monday, which will be its new flagship product after the hugely successful Chocolate and Shine.

The new handset is protected by a carbon-fiber casing and scratch-free tempered glass, LG said. The company hopes it will be a symbol of the firm's dedication to making design-savvy phones.

``The third Black Label handset is a product of LG's accumulated competence in design as well as its cutting-edge technology,'' Ahn Seung-kwon, chief of the firm's mobile communications department, said in a release. ``It will set another landmark in the global mobile phone market as did the Chocolate and Shine.''

The phone will be first launched on April 24 in Europe, and Korean consumers will be able to get it in the second half of the year, the firm said. Its name has not been decided on yet, a spokesman said.

LG was the world's fifth largest mobile phone maker last year, but it is expected to get past fourth-placed Sony-Ericsson this year by shipping 24.2 million handsets, according to NH Investment Securities. Its operating profit in the first quarter is also expected to rise by 35.1 percent from last year, thanks to brisk sales and the weaker Korean currency.

The company set its reputation as a design leader in the phone industry with the launch of its Black Label series, while its domestic rival Samsung Electronics has focused on technology-savvy phones.

So far LG sold 18 million Chocolate phones, a dark-black handset with sliding screen, and 7 million Shine, which has a glossy aluminum body. The firm says that the production of Chocolate will be phased out during the second quarter of the year, while the Shine will also be prepared for retirement soon after giving way to the newcomer.

The price of the black carbon-fiber phone has yet to be announced, but the spokesman said it will be in the same range with Chocolate and Shine, lower than that of high-end phones such as Prada and Viewty. The phone also has a 5-million pixel camera.

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