It was weird. Honestly, the LG G8X ThinQ Dual Screen was one of the strangest pieces of hardware to hit the mobile market back in late 2019. While Samsung was busy trying to make glass fold in half with the original Galaxy Fold—and failing spectacularly with those early screen failures—LG decided to take a much more "Lego-style" approach. They just gave you a second screen in a case.
People laughed. Tech reviewers called it clunky. They weren't entirely wrong, but they were missing the point of why this specific device became a sleeper hit for a very specific type of power user.
If you look at the LG G8X ThinQ Dual Screen today, it feels like a relic from a timeline where LG didn't quit the phone business. It’s a 6.4-inch OLED smartphone that slots into a plastic hinge case containing another identical 6.4-inch OLED panel. It’s bulky. It’s heavy. But for a certain crowd, it’s still more useful than a $1,800 foldable.
The LG G8X ThinQ Dual Screen and the Death of the Gimmick Label
Most people thought the second screen was a gimmick. It’s easy to see why. When you first snap the phone into the case, you’re holding something that feels more like a Nintendo DS than a modern flagship.
But here is the thing: it worked.
Unlike the early foldables that had display creases or "butterfly" hinges that sucked up dust, the LG G8X ThinQ Dual Screen was durable. Because the screens were separate, you didn't have to worry about a speck of sand ruining a $2,000 investment. LG used two identical FHD+ (2340 x 1080) OLED panels. This was a smart move. It meant the color calibration and refresh rates (a standard 60Hz back then) matched perfectly.
Why the hardware actually made sense
The phone itself was a beast for its time. It ran on the Snapdragon 855 chipset. While that sounds old now, in 2026, it still handles basic multitasking better than many mid-range A-series chips. You had 6GB of RAM and a 4,000mAh battery.
That battery was the Achilles' heel.
Driving two high-brightness OLED panels off a single 4,000mAh cell is like trying to run a V8 engine on a lawnmower's gas tank. If you were really pushing both screens—say, gaming on the bottom and watching Twitch on the top—you could almost see the percentage drop in real-time. LG tried to mitigate this with aggressive software throttling, but the reality was that most G8X owners lived near a wall outlet.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Dual Screen Experience
There is a massive misconception that this was a "foldable" phone. It wasn't. It was a multitasking machine.
Most people think you use a dual-screen phone to stretch one app across both screens. You could do that with the "Wide View" setting, but it looked terrible because of the massive black hinge (the "gap") in the middle. It cut faces in half during movies and deleted text in articles.
The real magic of the LG G8X ThinQ Dual Screen was independent app execution.
Think about your daily workflow. You're trying to copy a long address from an email into a ride-sharing app. On a normal phone, you're flipping back and forth, hoping the RAM doesn't clear the app state. On the G8X, you just had the email open on the left and the app on the right.
Real-world use cases that felt like magic:
- The Mobile Console: LG built a custom Game Pad app. You could turn the bottom screen into a full-sized Bluetooth controller while the game ran on the top screen. No thumbs blocking your view. It felt like a dedicated handheld.
- The Research Rig: Having a browser open on one side and Google Docs on the other. It turned a phone into a legitimate productivity tool for journalists and students.
- The Social Media Trap: Watching a YouTube video on the top while scrolling through a comment thread or Twitter on the bottom.
LG’s "Whale" browser was specifically optimized for this, allowing you to click a link on one screen and have it open on the second screen without losing your place on the first. It was seamless. It was fast. It was something Apple still hasn't figured out how to do on an iPhone.
The Audio Secret: Why Audiophiles Won’t Let This Phone Die
We have to talk about the 3.5mm headphone jack.
LG was the last holdout for high-end mobile audio. The LG G8X ThinQ Dual Screen featured a 32-bit Hi-Fi Quad DAC (Digital-to-Analog Converter) tuned by Meridian.
For the average person using $20 earbuds, this didn't matter. But for people with high-impedance headphones—the kind that usually require a bulky external amp—this phone was a godsend. It could drive Sennheiser HD600s or Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pros with ease.
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Even today, you’ll find the G8X (and its sibling, the V60) being traded on forums like Head-Fi. People aren't even using them as phones anymore. They use them as "DAPs" (Digital Audio Players). Why spend $1,000 on a Sony Walkman when a used LG G8X for $150 gives you the same internal components plus Wi-Fi and a dual-screen interface for managing your FLAC library?
The Software Struggles and the "LG Problem"
LG's software was always a bit of a mess. Let's be honest.
The UI was colorful, sure, but it felt cluttered compared to the "Stock Android" feel of a Pixel or the polished One UI from Samsung. When the G8X launched with Android 9 (Pie), the dual-screen integration felt a little bolted-on.
You had this little floating "Dual Screen Tool" icon that you had to tap to swap screens, put one to sleep, or enable the gamepad. It wasn't always responsive. Sometimes the second screen just... wouldn't turn on. You’d have to unplug the phone from the case and blow on the USB-C port like it was a 1985 NES cartridge.
The update graveyard
When LG announced they were closing their mobile division in 2021, G8X owners panicked. Surprisingly, LG kept their promise for a while, pushing Android 11 and even Android 12 to the device in certain regions.
But the updates were slow. Glacially slow.
By the time the G8X got features that were standard on other phones, the hardware was starting to show its age. The 12MP main camera and 13MP ultra-wide were "fine," but they couldn't compete with the computational photography coming out of Google or the massive sensors from Huawei. The G8X took decent photos in daylight, but low light was a grainy disaster.
Is it Still Worth Buying in 2026?
You can find these on the secondary market for a fraction of their original $699 MSRP. But should you?
If you are a collector or a mobile gamer on a budget, maybe. There is something tactile and satisfying about the "click" of the hinge. The outer "Cover Display" is just a mirror with a tiny 2.1-inch monochrome OLED strip for notifications, which is actually super helpful for checking the time without opening the whole rig.
However, the hardware is tired.
The magnetic charging pogo-pin adapter is the worst part of the design. To charge the phone while it’s in the case, you need a tiny magnetic dongle. If you lose that dongle—and everyone does—you can’t charge the phone without taking it out of the case. It’s annoying. It’s a design flaw that never should have cleared the prototype stage.
The Competition
Now, we have the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and the Pixel Fold. These devices offer a continuous screen without the bezel in the middle. They are objectively "better" technology.
But they are fragile.
The LG G8X ThinQ Dual Screen represented a fork in the road of smartphone evolution. It was the "Modular" path. It suggested that we don't need flexible glass; we just need more surface area when we want it, and a regular phone when we don't.
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Actionable Insights for Current or Prospective Owners
If you're still rocking a G8X or looking to pick one up as a secondary device, here is how to actually make it liveable in the current year:
- Replace the Battery: If you buy used, the 4,000mAh cell is likely degraded. Replacing the internal battery is actually easier on this phone than on most modern flagships because it isn't held together with a gallon of industrial glue.
- Use the GamePad for Productivity: You can actually map the custom LG GamePad buttons to keyboard shortcuts in certain apps. It's a niche hack, but for some specialized Android apps, it’s a game-changer.
- Find the Magnetic Adapters Now: Go to eBay or Amazon and buy three of the magnetic charging tips. They are becoming increasingly hard to find, and once they're gone, your dual-screen case is basically a paperweight.
- Manual Mode is Your Friend: The auto-mode on the LG camera hasn't aged well. However, LG’s manual video and photo controls were years ahead of their time. If you know how to balance ISO and shutter speed, you can still pull "pro-level" shots out of this sensor.
- Check the Hinge Ribbon: If your second screen starts flickering or showing green lines, it’s usually the ribbon cable in the hinge. Don't throw the phone away; you can often find replacement cases for under $50.
The LG G8X ThinQ Dual Screen was a weird, bold experiment. It wasn't perfect, and it didn't save LG's mobile division. But it provided a glimpse into a world where phones were more than just slabs of glass. It was a tool. A clunky, heavy, dual-screen tool that still does things a $1,200 iPhone can't touch.
For those who value function over form, the G8X remains one of the most interesting "failures" in tech history. It’s a reminder that sometimes, the "wrong" solution is actually the most practical one. If you can handle the bulk and the dongles, it’s a piece of mobile history that still earns its keep in a pocket.
Keep an eye on the second-screen connection pins. Cleaning them with a bit of isopropyl alcohol every few months prevents the dreaded "Screen Not Detected" error that plagues older units. This small maintenance task is the difference between a frustrating brick and a multitasking powerhouse that survives another year.