Smartphones have never been more capable, yet visually and physically they have converged on the same anonymous black rectangle. The brief era when companies experimented with swivels, sliders, and gamepad mashups feels distant, even as demand for fresh ideas is resurfacing in foldables and other shape‑shifting devices. The LG Wing captured that spirit of risk, and the industry is only now circling back to the kind of bold hardware thinking it represented.
I see a clear throughline from that rotating curiosity to the tri‑folds, rollables, and keyboard throwbacks lighting up trade shows today. The lesson from the Wing is not that weird phones are doomed, but that we never really gave them a fair shot before retreating to safe slabs.
Why the LG Wing still matters in 2026
The LG Wing arrived as a final swing from a company that was about to exit the phone business, and it tried something genuinely different instead of one more incremental slab. The LG Wing, released in 2020, paired a conventional main screen with a second display that appeared when you twisted the top panel into a T‑shape, a design that let you watch video on the wide top while using controls or messaging on the smaller panel below, and it became the last major statement before LG shut its mobile division in 2021, as detailed in coverage of The LG Wing. That rotating mechanism was not a gimmick bolted on after the fact, it was the organizing idea for the whole device, from camera modes that used the second screen as a gimbal grip to navigation layouts that kept maps on top and media controls below.
Looking back from 2026, I see the Wing as a prototype for the kind of multi‑posture phones that are finally gaining traction. It showed that people could understand and use a more complex form factor if the software leaned into it, something that current foldables and tri‑folds are now proving at scale. The tragedy is that the Wing arrived just a little too early, in a market that was not yet primed by foldable screens and flexible hinges, so its ideas were dismissed as eccentric rather than as a preview of where mobile design was heading.
We used to celebrate weird phones, not bury them
Before everything flattened into glass rectangles, phone makers treated hardware as a playground, and users were willing to meet them halfway. Devices like the Sony Xperia Play literally fused a smartphone with a slide‑out PlayStation controller, turning the lower half into a dedicated gamepad that made mobile titles feel closer to a handheld console, a mashup that still inspires nostalgia in videos from creators like Jan who miss that era of experimentation. Those designs were imperfect, but they proved that there was an appetite for phones that did more than mirror a generic touchscreen template.
That appetite is resurfacing in other corners of the market, including the renewed interest in compact devices that buck the trend toward ever larger slabs. Recent roundups of small‑screen handsets, such as the models highlighted in a video on Best Compact Phones 2026, show that people still care about size, grip, and personality, not just raw specs. When I look at that history, the LG Wing fits neatly into a lineage of phones that tried to solve real problems with bold hardware, even if they did not always land as mainstream hits.
Foldables and tri‑folds prove the craving for new shapes
The clearest sign that the slab is losing its grip comes from the rapid normalization of foldable phones, which have moved from niche experiments to full product lineups. Commentaries on the current cycle note that we are about to Get Ready to Hear a Lot More About Foldable Phones as more brands treat them as core flagships rather than side projects, and that shift validates the idea that people will pay for hardware that transforms. Buyer guides now treat foldables as a standard category, with curated lists of Bottom Line recommendations that weigh them on equal footing with traditional devices instead of as curiosities.
Samsung has leaned hardest into this direction, and its roadmap shows how quickly the concept is evolving. Social posts discussing the company’s plans say Samsung is set to release the Fold and Flip 7 with larger displays in 2025 and highlight that the big news is a tri‑folding smartphone that can unfold into a tablet‑like canvas, a device that early coverage tags with phrases like TriFoldingSmartphone. Broader previews of upcoming lineups, including comparisons that look From the iPhone Fold to Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra and list All the Phones in 2026, treat foldables as a given across Apple, Samsung, Google, and others, which underscores how mainstream the idea of a shape‑shifting phone has become.
Galaxy Z TriFold and friends pick up the Wing’s baton
The most direct spiritual successor to the LG Wing’s ambition is the Galaxy Z TriFold, which takes the idea of a multi‑orientation device and pushes it into full tablet territory. Samsung Electronics Co, Ltd describes the Galaxy Z TriFold as a product that can fold in two places to shift between phone, mini‑tablet, and wide‑screen modes, positioning it as the next step in mobile productivity, creativity, and connection in official materials from Samsung Electronics Co. A separate announcement frames the Galaxy Z TriFold as part of a broader push to define the shape of what is next in mobile innovation, with Samsung emphasizing how the device can replace both a phone and a small tablet in one Galaxy product.
On the show floor, that concept has translated into real buzz. A clip labeled Samsung Unveils Galaxy Z TriFold At CES describes it as a Phone That Becomes a Tablet and notes that the reel has 111 interactions, capturing how a single device that unfolds into a larger canvas can still feel like a magic trick to attendees, as seen in the Samsung Unveils Galaxy footage. Reports from the same event describe how Samsung’s tri‑fold smartphone stole attention on the CES show floor, reinforcing the idea that people are hungry for devices that physically transform instead of just refreshing their camera bump every year.
CES 2026 shows the weirdness is coming back
CES 2026 has quietly become a showcase for the kind of eccentric hardware that felt endangered a few years ago. One report from the show singles out the Clicks Communicator, a phone from Clicks Technology that builds a full physical keyboard into a modern smartphone body, describing how Clicks Technology has stepped out of keyboard accessories and into phones with its first smartphone, the Clicks Communicator, a device pitched as a kind of BlackBerryRevival. Another dispatch from the same show floor tips a hat to Ben Sin for highlighting the MindOne Pro at Ikko’s booth, noting that the Pro was easy to miss among the noise but stood out as a phone designed to keep you connected even away from your home network, as described in coverage that credits Ben Sin for spotting it at Ikko.
Even outside phones, the same show is full of experiments that treat screens as flexible canvases rather than fixed rectangles. A concept laptop called the Lenovo Legion Pro Rollable features a 16‑inch display that can expand from a 16:10 aspect ratio to either 21:9 or 24:9 at the touch of a button, a design that reviewer Sam Rutherford, listed as Senior Writer, Reviews, describes as a dramatic shift in usable space, with reports noting that Its screen can morph on demand. When I see rollable laptops, tri‑fold phones, and keyboard‑equipped communicators sharing the same spotlight, it feels like the industry is finally ready to embrace the kind of risk that made the LG Wing so compelling.
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