The electronics firm used CES to tease viewers with its new device with an expanding display.
The LG Rollable smartphone was the subject of the brand’s CES press conference. That said, the device isn’t just a concept, but is a gadget that will be available for purchase in 2021.
The Korean company teased about the smartphone to draw attention to the expandable display.
The glimpse of the LG Rollable wasn’t a long one. That said, it did reveal a smartphone with a display that rolls open and upward to create a screen closer to the size of a tablet. The phone, held in landscape mode, is the base of the device. A CNET report suggests that the device contains a mechanism to unfurl and furl the display on command. They assume that the concept is not unlike the OLED televisions that roll out and back again, only in a notably smaller size.
The only places the smartphone was mentioned was in two videos at the CES conference. The first video was at the start, the second one was closer to the end. Executives speaking on stage didn’t make any mention of it. This initially indicated that what was shown in the video was in only a concept stage and not approaching time for a release. That was the case for two TCL rollable phone concepts.
The LG Rollable is well beyond the concept phase as the smartphone will be released this year.
TCL’s versions included a 17-inch tablet that rolled out from top and bottom like a cartoon treasure map. That said, both of that company’s products of that nature aren’t anywhere near the store shelves.
If the LG Rollable is released when expected, it will become the first smartphone of its kind to head to consumers. This would open a new door to smartphone design, even beyond the foldable smartphones that have been released over the last couple of years with a range of success levels. It would steer completely away from the solid 
rectangular box design within which the smartphone industry has remained but that it has been eager to escape. This new type of design is certain to create entirely new opportunities for device shapes and fresh excitement over the future of these gadgets.
