At CES 2021, folding and folding phones inject some badly needed energy

This story is part of CES, where our editors will present the latest news and the hottest gadgets from CES 2021 entirely virtual.

It may have been just a fleeting glimpse of LG in its CES 2021 press conference, but that provocation of a smartphone with a scrolling screen suggests a return to mobile devices that seek to shake off conventional metal and glass slate. Despite the introduction of some new foldable phones in 2020 – notably the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip and Z Fold 2, in addition to the broader launch of the Motorola Razr, few people were willing to spend up to $ 2,000 in the midst of a global pandemic.

It’s 2021 and, well, little has changed. The hope, however, is that a rapid spread of the COVID-19 vaccine – still great if at this point – can bring some normality to our lives, as well as a renewed appetite and appreciation for more creative and dynamic phones.

Because let’s face it, we could all use something to turn us on again.

LG did the best it could with its provocation during the first day of CES. It was the second quick look, this time offering the device’s name, LG Rollable on the nose. Interestingly, LG executives did not even mention this during the press conference – glimpses of the phones were seen in quick promotion rolls that started and ended the event – but it’s real and it comes this year.

TCL, which has introduced several foldable prototypes in the past two years and introduced more flexible concepts on Monday, will finally launch a foldable phone for consumers this year, according to Stefan Strait, the company’s general marketing manager. The most notable aspect is its $ 1,000 price target. This is in line with Samsung’s comments last month about more affordable folding.

These foldable and roll-up phones are not just gimmicks. These new experimental designs help boost the industry in terms of the look and feel of mobile devices for years to come. Just as the iPhone has evolved devices from flip and candy bar designs to sleek metal and glass panels, foldable ones can cause a change in the way we interact with our phones across the line. Lower prices mean that these phones are a little more affordable for people.

“Form factor innovation is definitely a feature,” said Ronan Dunne, CEO of Verizon’s consumer company, in an interview on Tuesday. He did not comment on the LG Rollable, but noted that he was “very impressed” with some of the innovations to come.

But can this excitement correspond to the initial burst of energy? Turn the clock back two years until 2019 and the folding hype was at its peak. Samsung kicked off with an early look at its Galaxy Fold, followed a few days later by Huawei’s Mate X. Motorola ended the year with the Razr. Things are expected to increase in 2020, with more foldables coming.

We all know what happened next.

But the initial activity at CES suggests that we can expect more discoveries this year.

An evolution of folding

The screen of the LG Rollable phone goes back to the LG OLED R subscription, the roll-up TV that has been a highlight at the latest CES LG conferences. Employing flexible screens on a large 65-inch television is impressive, but putting that technology into a portable phone is another challenge.

“I can’t help but marvel at the technological innovation that this involves,” said Ramon Llamas, an analyst at IDC. “It says a lot about the display technology and its resolution that can be accommodated in such a flexible format.”

Although LG has offered little information about the phone, revealing the name of the device suggests that it is ready to go ahead with the product. The Rollable would mark another radical change in the design of even the folding phone and show that the industry still has some new tricks up its sleeve.

LG isn’t the only one thinking about rollers. The TCL display business also showed two rollable concepts, one a smaller phone with a screen that extends up to 6.7 inches in portrait mode and the other a 17 inch screen that unfolds from both ends like a map of the treasure.

TCL is not close to launching a rollable phone. Strait said in an interview before the show that the company was still working on refining the mechanics of its prototype.

Samsung reportedly has its own scrollable prototype too, according to ET News (via Tom’s Guide), and Oppo showed a scrollable concept called Oppo X 2021.

Despite the pandemic, LG did not stop experimenting last year, when it launched in the fall LG Wing, a unique phone with a screen stacked on top of the other, capable of rotating to a horizontal position, essentially creating a T-shaped screen. As unusual as it may seem, CNET editor Lynn La said it really helped with multitasking. and video recording.

Even though it hasn’t been a huge success, it pushes the industry in a different direction.

Making foldables more accessible

After years of sparking wild prototypes, TCL is finally ready to enter the folding game. Although the company kept quiet about the folders during its presentation at CES, Strait said the company plans to launch one this year with a price tag of $ 1,000.

“We are 100% convinced that this allows us to be very disturbing,” said Strait in an interview before CES.

As a result, Strait said the first foldable would use more of a conventional design than the wildest concepts we’ve ever seen. This suggests a design like a flip phone, which we saw from Samsung and Motorola. These types of devices come with lower prices than larger phones with foldable screens, like the Galaxy Z Fold 2 or Huawei Mate X.

Likewise, Samsung was suggesting even more folding in 2021.

“Z Fold2 has been praised as a smartphone that reimagines what is possible with mobile technology and I am excited to say, it is just a hint of what is to come as we continue to explore, evolve and expand this changing category space,” he said. TM Roh, President of Mobile Communications at Samsung, in a blog post.

This is in line with an ET News report that Samsung has four foldables coming this year, including two variants of each of its Flip and Fold lines.

The variety of folding phones to come suggests that this will not just be an example or a plaything for one percent and maybe we can all get an idea of ​​where the phones are going in the years to come.