Motorola just presented a new concept for a rollable smartphone with a screen that extends and contracts with the push of a button. The business demonstrated the device at Lenovo Tech World, and it’s the latest example of how tech companies are experimenting with methods to push the modern smartphone ahead.
Lenovo’s rollable phone idea sports a 5-inch screen that can stretch to 6.5 inches when unfolded. That makes it more compact than even the iPhone 13 Mini while in its tiny form, and virtually the same size as the iPhone 14 Pro Max when fully enlarged. The company has no plans to release the device yet since it’s simply in the idea stage.
The announcement comes after Motorola introduced the third-generation Razr in China in August. Prolific smartphone leaker Evan Blass had previously revealed that Motorola was in the early stages of building a rollable smartphone, as he shared on the blog 91Mobiles in May.
Motorola’s approach to rollable cell phones differs from some of the other designs we’ve seen so far. Companies like Samsung and TCL, for example, have produced concept devices with screens that stretch horizontally rather than vertically to convert between smartphone and tablet mode. But with its concept, Motorola seeks to deliver a smartphone that can swap screen sizes based on the situation rather than building a smartphone-tablet hybrid.
However, it will likely be some time before you can buy a rollable phone, much as it took years after companies like Samsung showed off foldable phone prototypes before the first Galaxy Fold appeared. Display Supply Chain Consultants co-founder and CEO Ross Young, however, believes rollable could remedy some problems with current large-format foldable like the Galaxy Z Fold series.
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“I think the rollable notion has a lot of promise to replace that book-type gadget in my mind,” he added in an earlier interview. And it ought to be considerably lighter.
Samsung is currently the leader in the foldable phone market, despite the fact that Motorola’s first foldable Razr garnered a lot of attention when it was released in 2019. According to Counterpoint Research, Samsung controls 62% of the worldwide foldable phone market, while Huawei comes in at a distant second with 16%. In the same survey, it was predicted that the market for foldable phones would increase by 73% in 2022, suggesting that consumers are becoming more open to smartphones with screens that can bend, fold, and even roll.
