As we face potential price increases and RAM shortages, the current smartphone era may be remembered fondly, even if smartphone design has reached a rather dull plateau.
For now, it’s an exciting time for tech specifications and value in mobile phones. Flagship prices have remained stable over the past five years, and the best devices deliver exceptional performance, photography, and battery life.
While I occasionally feel nostalgic (check out our recent 2016 retrospective), I appreciate living in an era where phones can last days on a single charge and capture decent photos at 30x zoom.
However, there is one phone I wish I had the chance to experience before it was discontinued. Unlike my all-time favorite, the iPhone 5s, this one is relatively recent.
The LG Wing, launched in 2020, marked the end of LG’s mobile division before its closure in 2021. This quirky device featured a rotating display that transformed the phone into a T-shaped orientation, allowing for a landscape view without needing to rotate the device.
With a 6.8-inch rotating display, the LG Wing provided a broad view in its deployed state, revealing a secondary 3.9-inch panel for quick actions or as a keyboard.
It’s possible that the Wing was LG’s answer to the rise of folding phone technology, aiming to offer a sleek alternative to Samsung’s designs, measuring just 10.9mm thick compared to the Galaxy Z Fold 2’s 16.8mm when folded. The Wing was inventive, presenting a unique alternative to Samsung’s booklet-style form factor.
In true LG fashion, the Wing was a bit eccentric but well-equipped. Priced at $999 in the US, it featured dual displays, a triple camera system with a gimbal-style ultra-wide lens, 8GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, and a 4,000mAh battery. Additionally, the selfie camera had a motorized pop-up mechanism.
Unfortunately, the LG Wing was released before I began my journey in tech journalism, and with my reliable Huawei Mate 20 Pro by my side throughout 2020 and 2021, I had neither the means nor the motivation to acquire a new phone.
Sadly, LG’s phone division has been defunct for half a decade, and every major phone now seems to follow the foldable trend initiated by Samsung’s Galaxy Fold. While today’s phones are impressive, none quite fulfill the void left by the LG Wing.
The LG Wing may not have saved LG’s mobile division, as devices with moving parts often face higher failure rates, increased costs, and potential servicing challenges.
Nonetheless, it was a bold move for LG to invest in a niche device when it desperately needed a success. The LG Wing was ahead of its time, not a failure.
Holding a phone horizontally can be uncomfortable, often leading to hand cramps. This is why accessories like pop sockets and mobile gaming controllers exist, and why vertical video has become so prevalent.
The LG Wing offered the best of both worlds—landscape and portrait modes—while maintaining a comfortable vertical grip. The market, however, wasn’t ready for it. TikTok was just gaining traction, and YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels launched in the same year as the Wing.
I can’t shake my fascination with the LG Wing. It resembles the over-the-top technology seen in a Star Wars film—potentially useful and visually striking. It’s a device you might expect to see in a 2006 YouTube video titled “this will be smartphones in 2012,” a testament to ambitious and experimental design.
The LG Wing remains the coolest phone I can’t purchase—it’s discontinued, and acquiring a second-hand device with so many moving parts seems unwise. Share in the comments which phone you wish you could have owned.