If you expected foldable phones to be hot in 2023, you could be wrong.
Now that we’ve gotten hands-on with the Lenovo Rollable Laptop Proof of Concept and the Motorola Rizr rollable smartphone concept at MWC 2023, foldable PCs and smartphones seem like yesterday’s news.
At MWC in Barcelona this week, we were expecting to see some fun concept phones, but Motorola’s Rizr concept phone is a whole different kind of beast. That is because the Motorola Rizr rollable concept smartphone features a rollable display that extends when you need more display real estate.
So for example, when you want to watch a video, the screen will roll out and expand to provide a wider screen for video watching. Likewise, if you start drafting a Gmail, the phone will extend its display vertically so you’ll have more display real estate available when using your keyboard.
The Motorola Rizr concept screams futuristic and actually seems like something that many folks could be using a few years from now. Ultimately, it seems that the use cases for a rollable smartphone will keep coming and that it’s actually super practical.
In addition to Motorola’s rollable concept phone, Lenovo was also showing off its Rollable Laptop Proof of Concept. The display inside of this concept laptop extends into the keyboard below and is able to roll out as needed for when you’re in need of extra display real estate.
This first-of-its-kind prototype packs in a 12.7-inch display with a 4:3 aspect ratio (2024×1604) that can expand into a 15.3-inch screen with an 8:9 aspect ratio (or two 16:9 screens, 2024×2368).
Rollable smartphone and laptop release dates?
There’s no word on when, if ever, these concept devices from Motorola and Lenovo will come to market, but given that both companies have previously developed and released several foldable display products, a rollable PC and smartphone could very well be in our near future.