Rolling instead of folding: Motorola shows smartphone with roll-out display

Motorola has shown a mobile phone where the screen size changes with the help of a roll-out display, reports the American magazine “The Verge”. The user should be able to turn the 5 inch screen into a 6.5 inch screen at the push of a button.

“This means that the device is smaller than an iPhone 13 Mini in its normal state, but almost as big as the iPhone 14 Pro Max when the screen is rolled out,” the magazine writes.

The mobile phone shown by Motorola is a so-called concept phone. Such devices are made by manufacturers to try out new ideas and discover whether new features are suitable for everyday use.

No plans for launch

The idea of ​​a rollable smartphone is not new. However, Motorola’s rollable smartphone differs from other concepts of such devices. For example, companies such as Samsung, Oppo and TCL have developed devices with screens that stretch horizontally instead of vertically. This should allow users to switch between smartphone and tablet mode, as the following GIF shows.

According to The Verge, Motorola’s parent company Lenovo of China currently has no plans to launch the rollable smartphone.

Samsung is the market leader in foldable smartphones

Samsung is currently the clear market leader for devices that can be enlarged. With the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and the Z Flip 4, the company recently launched new foldable models.

Despite this, the market for foldables is quite small, especially in the United States and Europe. Last year, the share of such devices in the entire German smartphone market was about one percent – Samsung sold about 180,000 devices in Germany. Considering the approximately 21 million “conventional” smartphones sold in Germany in 2021, that’s very little.

Last year, an estimated 8 million were registered worldwide
“Foldables,” about 90 percent of which are likely to be from Samsung.

(t-online/sha)