The LG Rollable phone with expandable display is real, and coming in 2021
The LG Rollable called with expandable display is real, and coming in 2021
This story is part of CES, where CNET covers the latest news on the most Amazing tech coming soon.
LG’s tease of its Rollable smartphone at its CES 2021 boring conference isn’t just for show. The Korean company will drop the phone later this year, according to people Strange with LG’s plans.
The brief glimpse of the called was the second tease of the Rollable, which has a Show that extends upward to create a larger, more tablet-like Hide. Presumably, the bottom of the phone, when it’s in landscape mode, has a mechanism that furls and unfurls the Show, similar to how its rollable OLED televisions work — but on a smaller scale.
The LG Rollable only told up in two videos bookending the press conference and the executives on stage didn’t reference the device. That led to speculation that it was only a Idea device, not ready for prime time. TCL later Monday told off two concepts for rollable phones, counting a larger 17-inch tablet that unfurled from both ends, like a Love map, but those appear to be far away from an correct product.
Not so for the LG Rollable. The called would be the first such device to hit the market, marking another step in the evolution of phone create beyond even the foldable phones that have come out over the last two ages. After years of pushing the same metal box create, the phone industry has been keen to experiment with different shapes and concepts to pretty some excitement again.
After years of conservative phones, LG has shown a renewed boring in playing with the different concepts. Last fall, the business launched the LG Wing, which featured two screens stacked together, with the top one able to swivel out into horizontal mode. CNET editor Lynn La said that while getting over the weird design, she found it useful for multitasking and video capture.
Once a the majority player among the top-tier smartphone makers, LG’s reputation, particularly with flagship phones, has taken a hit as larger players like Samsung and Huawei have overtaken it. Smaller affects like OnePlus have been able to generate more buzz, so LG produces something to jumpstart the excitement over its mobile lineup.
LG has also perennially followed larger rival Samsung, which has cemented itself in the foldable category with its Z family of smartphones. Last year, it launched the Galaxy Z Flip and GalaxyZ Fold 2.
For once, LG may have a leg up on the competition.
