Motorola's next big step in smartphones might be rollable phones

The rollable dream no one really had is alive and well

Flexible screens have come to smartphones in two forms: curved-screen phones, like the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, and foldable devices, like the Galaxy Z Fold3. But there's a third kind of phone in development that would be equipped with a flexible screen – rollable phones. LG came close to releasing one before its unfortunate death, and Oppo has been toying around with a prototype. Motorola now seems to be joining those companies hard at work in the race to release a rollable phone.

The Lenovo-owned entity is no stranger to the concept of flexible screens, having released the Razr foldable phones. According to a report from Evan Blass published on 91mobiles, Motorola's rollable phone is internally called "Felix." It may also sort of follow in the footsteps of the Razr in its form factor — it rolls up vertically rather than horizontally, as we've seen on other prototypes, making the phone taller when unfurled. In its rolled form, it's supposed to be a small, easy-to-pocket device, becoming more akin to a typical smartphone when unrolled.

Of course, saying that a finished, in-market product by Motorola will look or work anything like this would be, at best, calling the shots too early. Evan clarifies in his post that this device is still in a very early stage of development. So early, that initial testing for its software had to be conducted on a Motorola Edge 30 Pro because the company didn't have a hardware prototype ready. If anything, we're looking at a wait of at least a year or more — and as ever, there is a possibility of it getting scrapped during development.

Then again, everyone seems to be having trouble making and releasing rollable phones, so Motorola might somehow still be the first to launch one if things go well.