CES 2021: LG teases ‘World’s first rollable smartphone’

LG has announced that it will launch the first portable smartphone in the world this year, as it will be offering a preview of the device at CES 2021 with a five-second teaser video.

The clip features a smartphone held in landscape orientation while scrolling from an extended form factor screen in tablet form to a more compact chassis.

The hybrid phone is said to be based on flexible organic LED technology, which is reportedly provided by the Chinese BOE Technology Group, although the details of the technology remain unclear. The company spoke at CES Nikkei Asia that the product will be officially released later this year:

“Our management wanted to show that it’s a real product because there were a lot of rumors surrounding the mobile phone,” said Ken Hong, a spokesman for LG. “As it will be released at atCES 2021‌, I can see it being launched this year.”

LG’s rollover screen follows the moderate success of Samsung’s foldable smartphones and comes because LG’s phone industry is struggling financially due to stiff competition from Samsung, Huawei and Apple.

Apple has investigated rollover displays in the past, based on patents from the company. In March 2020, a patent granted to Apple appeared at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office describing an ‘Electronic device with flexible display structures’.

The patent contains a flexible display that can be wrapped around one or more internal roller mechanisms so that the screen can extend out of the chassis. There is still a sturdy section to house the circuit boards and other electronic components, but with the addition of the rollable display layers.

“Elongated bistable support members can run along the sides of the screen or be overlapped by a central active portion of the screen to stiffen and support the screen in its extended position,” explains the patent, who considers the technology adaptable to anything from a smartphone to a smartwatch.

As with all Apple patents, there is no indication that Apple intends to bring such a device to market, but it’s interesting to see what future solutions Apple has in mind as it seeks to innovate. outside the current technologies for consumer use.