LG Electronics unveils LG rollable driving video in teaser format
[아시아경제 한진주 기자] LG Electronics confirmed the name of the rollable phone as’LG Rollable’ and even showed a video to drive it. It is also interesting to see if it can be positioned as an alternative to foldables with a new form factor that allows the screen to grow when desired while maintaining portability.
On the 11th, LG Electronics released the LG Rollable Teaser video at the CES 2021 press conference. At the beginning of the conference introducing LG Electronics’ new technologies and products, a hand holding an LG rollable appears. As the upper part of the phone, held wide horizontally, was raised, the rollable phone unfolded, and the screen of the rollable phone became smaller at the finish.
The name’LG Rollable’ was finally confirmed as a product name. In the finishing part, the speaker left and the screen of the rollable phone was rolled up, reflecting the brand name of’LG Rollable’ to announce the product name. The phrase’More to Explore’ appearing at the end of the conference implied that LG Rollable is an’Explorer Project’. The Explorer Project refers to a project in which LG Electronics breaks away from the existing bar-type smartphone and releases a smartphone with an innovative form factor. The second product to be released after the’LG Wing’ that rotates the screen horizontally is the LG Rollable.
At this event, only the video that drives the LG Rollable was released. Specific specifications such as launch time or price were not mentioned. LG Electronics plans to unveil the LG Rollable by holding a separate event in March as early as possible.
The rollable phone is characterized by being able to use a small screen normally, but open it up when a large screen is needed. The motor mounted on the display is driven by spreading one or both sides of the screen. Oppo first unveiled the concept of a rollable phone that can expand to 7.4 inches in November last year, but LG Electronics is expected to lead the rollout of commercialized rollable phones. This is because, unlike the production of prototypes, there are considerable technical limitations to be overcome in the actual commercialization and mass production process.
Expected image of LG rollable screen (Source = Mini Device Korea, Let’s Go Digital)
Looking at the specifications released so far for the LG Rollable, the screen is 7.4 inches when expanded to a 6.8-inch display. The phone mode (20:9), video mode (16:9), productivity mode (3:2), etc. are equipped with functions that change the aspect ratio according to the situation in use. Qualcomm’s new chipset, Snapdragon 888, is expected to support 4200mAh of battery capacity and 16GB of RAM.
There is interest whether the rollable can be positioned as an alternative to the foldable. The decisive disadvantage of the foldable phone is that the screen wrinkles during use and the thickness becomes thicker when folded. On the other hand, the rollable phone is a method that uses only a part of the screen and then opens it to use the whole, and it seems that the key will be how long durability can be secured because it is not commercially available. Foldable phones require one more external screen when folded, so the price is inevitable, but there are observations that the rollable phone will be released at a competitive price point because it uses only one screen like the out-folding method.
Reporter Han Jin-ju [email protected]