Move over foldables, LG and TCL show off rollable phones at CES

Last year we saw a bunch of foldable phones out in the wild, and we’ll probably see a lot more this year. But there’s already a new cool form factor on the block — rollable phones. At CES 2021, LG and TCL showed off their rollable phones — but both of them are in the early design phase.

The Korean tech giant’s phone, unsurprisingly called the LG Rollable, made a brief appearance in the company’s keynote. However, we don’t have any details about the display or when the phone will hit the market.

This is not the first time LG has shown off a rollable display. Two years ago, it amazed everyone with a rollable TV at CES, and last year it even teased the phone’s flexible display.

Hours after LG’s demo, TCL also showed off its rollable concept phone. The company’s demo video showed that this tech can increase the phone’s display size from 6.7-inches to 7.8-inches with a tap of the finger. But that’s all we know about TCL’s phone.

Rollable phones from both companies seem to be in the concept stage at this moment, and we don’t know when we’ll get to see them physically. And just like foldable phones, there might be an issue of durability of this kind of display when the first editions are launched in the market.

Nonetheless, it’s an exciting rival form factor to foldables, and we might see a lot of discussion around the world of expanding screens in coming years.