The LG Wing: The Final Frontier of Unique Smartphones
In an era where smartphones have increasingly become uniform—glass slabs with minor enhancements—the LG Wing emerged as an audacious experiment. Launched in 2020, the Wing marked LG’s last flagship before the company departed from the smartphone landscape in 2021. With its distinctive swivel design and dual-screen arrangement, the Wing was an homage to innovation, despite its lack of commercial success. Now, years later, it resembles the last of the genuinely distinctive smartphones—a vestige of a time when manufacturers were bold enough to embrace risks.
A Swivel Towards Tomorrow
The LG Wing’s hallmark feature was its rotating main display. With a swift flick, the 6.8-inch OLED screen rotated 90 degrees to unveil a smaller 3.9-inch secondary display beneath. This T-shaped format was unlike anything else available and enabled multitasking in ways conventional smartphones could not replicate.
For example, users could enjoy a YouTube video on the primary screen while perusing comments or adjusting playback on the secondary screen. Navigation using Google Maps could be coupled with music controls below. LG even featured a mouse mode, allowing the secondary screen to function as a touchpad for the primary display.
This wasn’t LG’s initial venture into dual-screen technology. The company had previously explored detachable second screens on models like the LG G8X and V60. However, the Wing epitomized that vision—integrated, seamless, and ambitious.
Groundbreaking Camera Capabilities
Another remarkable aspect was the Wing’s camera system. It featured a unique “Gimbal Motion Camera,” which utilized the phone’s form to stabilize video recordings. By gripping the phone’s secondary screen as a handle, users could pan and tilt the camera without physically moving the lens—simulating the effect of a mechanical gimbal.
While the gimbal mode was restricted to 1080p resolution and didn’t consistently provide the best video quality, it showcased a creative application of hardware that reflected LG’s readiness to think outside conventional boundaries. The main and ultrawide sensors also offered impressively solid photo performance, a significant enhancement over prior LG models.
Numerous Trade-offs
Despite its clever design, the LG Wing was ultimately a commercial disappointment. Priced at $999, it housed a mid-range Snapdragon 765G processor—an unusual decision for a flagship device. Competing smartphones within the same price range delivered superior performance, more polished software, and extended battery life.
The Wing also faced software drawbacks. LG’s custom UI was cumbersome, and app compatibility for the secondary screen was limited. Only a small selection of apps—like YouTube and Asphalt 9—were optimized for the swivel mode. Multitasking was feasible, but the overall experience often felt incomplete. Even basic functionalities like utilizing Gboard on the secondary screen were unsupported, compelling users to depend on LG’s proprietary keyboard.
Hardware idiosyncrasies further contributed to the frustration. The device was hefty (260g), lacked stereo speakers and a headphone jack, and implemented a sluggish in-display fingerprint sensor. While these criticisms might be acceptable in a mid-range phone, they were more difficult to excuse at a premium price.
A Farewell Note for LG
The LG Wing was unveiled amidst tumultuous circumstances. The COVID-19 pandemic had consumers tightening their budgets, and LG’s smartphone segment was already faltering. The Wing’s niche appeal and steep price did not aid its cause. In April 2021, LG officially declared its withdrawal from the smartphone sector.
Yet, in retrospect, the Wing appears to be a fitting farewell. It embodied everything that made LG distinctive: a penchant for experimentation, a talent for hardware innovation, and a disregard for conventional market dynamics. It may not have been flawless, but it was certainly audacious.
A Precursor to Foldables?
Interestingly, the Wing may have helped set the stage for contemporary foldables. Though it wasn’t a foldable device itself, it acquainted users with the concept of dynamic form factors and secondary displays. Today’s flip phones—such as the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip and Motorola Razr—have embraced similar ideas, showcasing compact designs with functional cover screens.
Where the Wing utilized its second screen for enhanced multitasking, modern flip phones employ theirs for swift interactions, notifications, and even complete app functionality. The implementation differs, but the underlying principle remains: providing users with increased flexibility in how they engage with their devices.
The Conclusion of an Era
With LG’s exit and the discontinuation of the Wing, the era of unique smartphones appears to have ended. Other manufacturers have predominantly focused on refining existing designs rather than reinventing them. Foldables represent the nearest approximation to experimental devices today, but even they are becoming increasingly mainstream.
The LG Wing stands as a testament to a period when smartphone creators dared to be unconventional. It wasn’t flawless, and it didn’t cater to everyone, but it was a
