Best of both: the LG Wing is the phone I wish I'd tried before phone design became boring
On a Wing and a Prayer
· TechRadarFeatures By Jamie Richards published 17 January 2026
(Image credit: Future) Share Share by:
Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google
With the prospect of price hikes and RAM shortages on the horizon, we might remember the current era as a good one for smartphones – even if phone design has actually hit a pretty boring plateau.
Still, I’m enjoying the fact that, for now, it’s a great time for tech specs and value for money in the world of mobile phones – flagship prices have held fairly steady over the past five or so years, and the best phones offer incredible performance, photography, and battery life.
And while I find myself feeling nostalgic every now and then (check out our recent 2016 retrospective), I’m pretty happy to be living in a world with phones that last a couple days on a single charge and can take serviceable photos at 30x zoom.
With that said, there is one phone I wish I’d had the chance to try before it was discontinued – and unlike my favorite phone of all time, the iPhone 5s, this one isn’t even that old.
The LG Wing, released in 2020, was the last hurrah from LG’s mobile business before it shut down in 2021. The finale to a series of weird and quirky phones, the LG Wing featured a rotating display that allowed the phone to swivel out into a T-shaped orientation – effectively giving you a landscape view without having to rotate the phone itself.
At 6.8 inches, that rotating display offered a pretty wide view in its, uh, deployed state, and swiveling out the main screen revealed a second 3.9-inch panel, to use as a keyboard or for other quick actions.
It’s possible that the Wing was a response to the advent of folding phone technology – perhaps LG had hoped that consumers would prefer the sleekness and convenience of their rotating design, which measured just 10.9mm thick compared to the Galaxy Z Fold 2’s 16.8mm folded thickness. More than anything, the Wing was inventive – no other phone maker had offered an alternative to Samsung’s booklet-style form factor that was quite as unique, and none have since.
Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox
Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more.
Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors