LG Electronics 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 today that the G Flex 2 will be launched locally on January 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 model shows LG is targeting a bigger market.

The phone features a 5.5ins 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 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 (£548) in South Korea.