OPPO is definitely one of the more innovative tech companies we know. The past few days, we’ve been learning more about new products from the Chinese OEM. We recently heard about a new wireless charging technology and learned that OPPO flash charging solutions will be used by other OEMs. There was that OPPO phone with a moveable selfie camera design patent but before that one, there is still the mysterious OPPO X 2021. The rollable phone concept has been shown off several times. Those hands-on videos that appeared recently are somewhat believable but we want to know if they’re not just concept devices.
At this week’s Mobile World Congress in Shanghai (MWCS), OPPO demonstrated a smartphone the features a 6.7-inch screen that extends up to 7.4-inches. It doesn’t show any obvious crease but it is still flexible. It can be adjusted according to your size preference (7.4-inch max) without any problem.
What’s more interesting here is that OPPO doesn’t have plans to bring the rollable phone to the market. It won’t have a commercial release but the company keeps on showing off the phone. We like the idea but we’ll like it better if a real, working rollable smartphone will be ready for the market.
Not that unconventional phones like the OPPO x 2021 don’t have a place in the mobile industry. It’s just that we want something to enter production. The LG Rollable Phone is now in danger of being cancelled although we have yet to hear officially from LG.
OPPO boasting about the OPPO X1 2021 is not surprising. If you’re there, you’d probably be amazed by the concept phone. The extendable screen appears for real.
How is this possible? According to OPPO, it has worked on three innovations on hardware. OPPO said if looked into the design, ideal curve for the screen plus the motors, and support structure for the non-rigid flexible screen. The motors can retract by way of extending.
OPPO has worked on a “Roll Motor” powertrain. It allows the display to extend and have no crease at all. The flexible display is then given structural support by some alternating metal strip.
The rollable design of the phone may not be available commercially yet but it does open up the possibility for new ideas, new user experiences, and new technologies. This may just be the start not only for the rollable phone game but for whole idea of unconventional smartphones. Once the public sees the value of such unique phones, then OEMs may be willing to invest on the ideas and actually produce the design.