LG Electronics Thursday launched the Secret, or the KF750, a super-thin phone with a 5-megapixel camera.

At 11.8 mm, the phone is one of thinnest handset on the market. It will start shipping at the end of May in Europe, then in Asia, South America and the rest of the world. Pricing is still a secret, but it will be a bit cheaper than the company's current Viewty Model, according to LG.

LG Secret uses the same form factor as its Chocolate and Viewty phones -- a key pad slides out from beneath a touch screen. The casing is made from carbon fiber, and the screen size is 2.4 inches.

"It has tempered glass, which makes it more scratch resistant, something users are worried about when it comes to touch-based phones," said Niklas Casserstedt, marketing manager for mobile phones at Swedish LG.

The camera offers a photo lamp instead of a flash, supports the Divx format and boasts recording at 120 frames per second, but LG doesn't state at what resolution.

To surf the Internet, the phone supports HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) at 7.2M bps (bits per second), which makes it a robust mobile broadband modem.

The Korean phone vendor is currently on a roll. During the first quarter it sold more units than Sony Ericsson, and became the fourth largest mobile phone manufacturer.

"It's always rewarding when you are doing well, especially when the market is so tough," said Casserstedt.

The secret to LG's success is simple, said Casserstedt. "We have worked a lot on the design of our phones, and been very successful in launching phones that people desire."

It also has third-place ranking in its sight. In the first quarter, Motorola sold 3 million units more than LG.

"We expect LG to maintain momentum in the second quarter, and exert significant pressure on Motorola for third position," said Geoff Blaber, director of devices at CCS Insight.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.