lg prada ke850: the original fashion phone

May 15, 2025

A First of Its Kind

Before the world ever laid eyes on the iPhone, there was the LG Prada KE850.

Announced in January 2007, months before Apple’s first iPhone keynote, this device marked a turning point in mobile phone design. It was the first commercially available phone with a capacitive touchscreen, meaning it responded to touch from a fingertip rather than pressure or styluses—a radical departure from the norm at the time.

But LG didn't do it alone. This was a collaboration with Prada, one of the most respected names in fashion. And unlike other brand collaborations that simply slapped a logo onto an existing product, this was a ground-up co-design. It wasn’t just a phone—it was a fashion accessory backed by technological innovation.

This bold move made it the first true fusion of luxury fashion and consumer electronics, establishing a category that would only grow in the years to come.

A Minimalist Statement

What truly set the Prada KE850 apart was its appearance. In an era dominated by flip phones, physical keyboards, and clunky interfaces, the KE850 looked like a product from the future.

Its face was a black glass rectangle—clean, without any front buttons. The body was slim, matte black, and surrounded by chrome edges. It felt more like a runway piece than a gadget, and that was exactly the point.

The software interface was equally minimalist. The UI was designed in full Flash, customized to reflect Prada’s branding and aesthetic values. It had monochrome icons, refined typography, and a deliberate visual language that prioritized elegance over utility. You couldn’t customize it much, but it didn’t need it. Every pixel felt intentional.

At just 85 grams, the phone was incredibly light. Yet it still packed a 2MP camera with flash, a media player, document viewer, and even multitasking capabilities. It was more than beautiful—it was surprisingly capable.

Global Design Awards and Critical Acclaim

The KE850 didn’t go unnoticed in the design world. In 2007, it won the Red Dot Design Award: Best of the Best, one of the most prestigious honors in industrial design. That same year, it also took home the iF Product Design Award, further cementing its reputation as a design breakthrough.

These awards were significant. They weren’t just for fashion pieces—they were for objects that fused aesthetics with functional innovation. The LG Prada KE850 was not a novelty. It was recognized as a serious piece of industrial design, one that challenged assumptions about what a mobile phone could look and feel like.

Commercial Success in a Niche Market

Despite its luxury branding and high price point, the KE850 was a commercial success by the standards of its niche. LG sold over one million units globally within 18 months of its release—a major achievement for a designer-branded product that offered neither app stores nor advanced smartphone capabilities.

It launched in high-end boutiques and electronics retailers across Europe and Asia, and each unit came packaged like a premium fashion accessory. Even the accessories, including leather cases and charging docks, reflected Prada’s design language.

This was the first time a phone’s unboxing experience was as carefully curated as the product itself—something that would become standard years later in the smartphone era.

A Blueprint for the Future

The KE850's influence runs deeper than sales numbers. It helped set a new visual standard for phones going forward. Its form—a flat screen-dominated front, minimal branding, and unified visual identity—became the foundation for the modern smartphone.

While Apple would soon revolutionize the software side of the industry with iOS, it was LG and Prada who first reimagined the hardware, showing that a phone didn’t have to look like a tool. It could look like art.

This influence was so direct that Apple’s legal team later had to defend the iPhone’s design by arguing that the Prada phone wasn’t a viable precedent—even though the two phones shared striking similarities in silhouette and UI minimalism.

Legacy and Collectibility

The LG Prada KE850 remains one of the most iconic design phones ever released.

Its legacy isn't tied to specs or features but to its vision—a vision of design-forward mobile technology that treated the phone as both a tool and a statement. In an age of hyper-competitive smartphones with iterative design, the KE850 stands out as a rare instance when form genuinely led the function.

Today, the KE850 is sought after by collectors of vintage tech, fashion archivists, and design historians alike. It’s rare to find a working unit in good condition, and even harder to find one with the full original set—box, cables, branded pouch, and documentation.