LG's Wide Angle Selfie Phone Means You Can Throw Away Your Selfie Stick

Selfie-lovers, rejoice. LG's new smartphone comes equipped with dual front-facing cameras, which allow users to take 120-degree shots, rendering selfie sticks irrelevent.

South Korean manufacturers LG announced the launch of its V10 smartphone—which also includes a second screen feature—on Thursday. The company also unveilied the second edition of their Urbane smartwatch—the first Android Wear device to come with 4G connectivity.

The V10's dual cameras are capable of capturing mega-selfies by taking two pictures at once and stitching them together via an algorithm, the BBC reports. Both front cameras are 5 megapixel and allow for pristine selfies without needing to pan the smartphone. LG said in a statement that "the ability to take group selfies without a selfie-stick has never been easier."

The phone also has a smaller, 5.3 cm (2.1 inch) inset display—which is marketed as a second screen—above the main 14.5 cm (5.7 inch) display. The second screen allows for the display of battery life, time or weather when the main display is switched off. Ben Wood, a consumer electronics analyst at U.K. market analysts CCS Insight, told the BBC that the second screen "has something that will catch people's attention," but "that doesn't make it any easier to sell than the iPhone."

The BBC reported that LG shipped 45 million smartphones between July 2014 and june 2015, a year-on-year decline of 13.6 percent.

The Urbane 2nd Edition watch enables users to connect to 4G, 3G, WiFi and Bluetooth, setting it apart from the Apple Watch, which relies on WiFi and Bluetooth to retain connectivity with wearers' iPhones. Apple has shot up to second in the wearables market since the release of the Apple Watch in April. According to market analysts the International Data Corporation, Apple debuted with 19.9 percent of the wearables market share in Q2, behind leaders Fitbit on 24.3 percent.

The LG V10 will reportedly be released in South Korea in October, with launches elsewhere to follow, and will cost over $750, though LG have not confirmed the price.

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Conor is a staff writer for Newsweek covering Africa, with a focus on Nigeria, security and conflict.

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