It’s no secret now that South Korean brand, LG is actively working on a smartphone with a rollable display. Over the course of last year itself, we have seen a few rollable smartphone designs being patented by the brand, including an expandable display type and a smartphone that folded in three. It seems that the brand is still working on other potential designs, as we have now discovered yet another rollable smartphone patent from the brand. This one is unique, with a scroll-like design that requires you to unfurl the edges in opposite directions to reveal the display.
The smartphone depicted in the patent drawing has a display that can be expanded or reduced as per the requirement of the user. This means you can use it as a smartphone for daily usage, or as a tablet when consuming multimedia. In the image, we can also see a circular cutout on the top left edge for the camera. Moreover, the patent listing suggests that users will be able to resize the content being displayed to fit the size of the screen exposed by the user.
According to the patent description, this feat will be achieved with the use of a dedicated sensor to detect the expansion or reduction of the screen, and a control unit to configure the screen content. The patent listing doesn’t reveal much else apart from the working of the display. However, LG has mentioned that the rollable display might have use cases beyond a smartphone.
Notably, we have already seen LG unveil similar display tech at CES 2019 in the form of the Signature Rollable OLED TV R9. The $60,000 (~Rs 42,77,000) television comes with a rolling screen that’s hidden in an elongated box, which also doubles up as a soundbar.