Despite once being a major player in the smartphone market, LG hasn’t enjoyed the same success as Samsung. And in 2021, due to sluggish sales, the Korean brand ended up exiting the smartphone market.
“LG’s strategic decision to exit the incredibly competitive mobile phone industry will allow the company to focus its resources on growth areas such as electric vehicle components, connected appliances, smart homes, robotics, ‘artificial intelligence and business-to-business solutions, as well as platforms and services’the company wrote in a statement announcing the end of its smartphone division in April 2021.
Still, when it comes to technologies, LG was quite advanced. And among the models the brand worked on was a rollable or extendable screen smartphone. This model was even officially presented by LG during CES 2021, before the company finally decided to no longer sell smartphones.
And today, a new video popped up on YouTube showing how this LG roll-up screen smartphone would have looked if it had remained in the smartphone market. While the video shown by the manufacturer at CES in Las Vegas appeared to be a rendering, the new video, published by an unofficial source, appears to be an actual video of the product.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFAmEO53yEY
Of a rather short duration, the video presents the design of the smartphone, which the media called LG Rollable as well as the extension of the screen, with a mechanism that seems very fluid.
Unfortunately, the video does not tell us about the characteristics of the device. Moreover, it is possible that the prototype that was filmed is still far from being marketable.
In any case, the video shows us the technology of the roll-up screens in action. And although LG no longer sells smartphones, it could still market rollable screens to other smartphone brands.
Other companies are working on this type of smartphone
Like LG, Oppo and TCL have already unveiled concepts for smartphones with rollable screens. In May, Samsung also published an advertisement in which we can see products with rollable or extendable screens. However, for the moment, no commercial product is yet available on the market.
In any case, smartphones with rollable screens could be the next major evolution in this industry, after folding smartphones. Moreover, currently, after a sluggish start in 2019, folding smartphones are finally attracting the general public today.
In 2021, Samsung announced that it had quadrupled its folding smartphone shipments compared to 2020. And the Korean giant expects sales to continue to increase in the coming years.
With the Galaxy Z Flip 3 et Galaxy Z Fold 3 that it launched last year, the Korean giant made significant efforts on the price and durability of the product, which had a significant impact on sales. And currently, it is preparing the launch of the next generation: the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and the Galaxy Z Flip 4.
Normally, these two folding smartphones will be unveiled in August on the old Galaxy Note launch window (the Korean giant having decided to end this range, in favor of its folding smartphones).
Note also that currently, rumors are circulating about future iPhone / iPad folding Apple. But according to the most relevant sources, the product would not arrive soon.