Thanks to patents, leaks, and vague teasers we’ve known that LG has a rollable smartphone in the works for a while, but the company has now officially confirmed it, as well as revealing that – as rumored – the name is indeed the LG Rollable.
Although the company has now confirmed that such a phone is in the works, it hasn’t revealed much else, but you’ll find everything that we do know below, along with all the compelling leaks and rumors.
That includes details about the design, specs, price, and release date, and we’ll be adding to this article whenever we hear anything new about the LG Rollable, so check back for updates.
Cut to the chase
- What is it? LG’s first rollable smartphone
- When is it out? Possibly March
- How much will it cost? A leak suggests $2,359 (around £1,775, AU$3,130)
LG Rollable release date and price
According to a report out of South Korea, the LG Rollable will be announced sometime in early 2021. So it could be landing very soon. Or at least we hope it is – there have been whispers of LG abandoning the project as it makes an exit from the smartphone market.
The only other LG Rollable release date rumor so far comes from a leaker who doesn’t yet have much of a track record, so we’d take it with a pinch of salt. But it lines up with the other leaked time frame, as they say that the phone will likely be announced in March, but add that it could be delayed until June.
Given that the name and front design of the phone (more on the latter below) was confirmed by LG in January, it’s entirely possible that the handset could be announced soon, so March is certainly a possibility.
Sources speaking to CNET have also suggested the LG Rollable is a fully fledged device that will be announced at some point “later this year”. TechRadar has asked LG to comment, but the company said it is unable to provide anymore details at this time.
As for the price, the same source claims that the LG Rollable will cost $2,359 (roughly £1,775, AU$3,130), which would make it even more expensive than the likes of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2. But then this is an entirely new type of phone, so whether or not this price is right, it’s sure to cost a lot.
Still, there might soon be a bunch of rollable phones, as both TCL and Oppo are also working on rollable handsets. These more seem to be in the concept stages right now so probably aren’t as far along as LG’s, but once there’s competition in the market, prices could quickly drop.
LG Rollable news, leaks and rumors
The biggest LG Rollable news comes from LG itself, which has shown how the phone looks from the front – along with how it looks when it’s changing size. You can see all of that in the GIF above.
In short, it starts out looking like an ordinary smartphone, but the top (when held in landscape) can extend upwards to create a small tablet. There doesn’t appear to be a visible front-facing camera, which could be because this isn’t the finished form of the device, or might perhaps mean it’s built into the screen.
We’ve previously seen a very similar design in an LG patent, an image of which can be seen above, but in the patent, two sides of the phone could extend and retract, whereas in LG’s teaser we only see one side do this. That might mean only one side will on the finished phone, but it’s equally possible that both will and that LG simply chose to only show one.
As for the specs, one report suggests that the LG Rollable will have a 7.4-inch screen when fully extended, and a 6.8-inch one when not.
A South Korean forum post spotted by LetsGoDigital says the same, but also includes the images you can see below (which are similar to what LG has now shown) and an additional detail – that the resolution at 7.4 inches will apparently be 1600 x 2428, while at 6.8 inches it will apparently be 1080 x 2428.
Another source similarly claims that the LG Rollable will have a 7.4-inch screen, along with a top-end Snapdragon 888 chipset, 16GB of RAM, and a 4,200mAh battery.
With all these leaks pointing to the same screen size, we’d say that aspect is likely accurate, and a Snapdragon 888 chipset is very likely too, as that’s expected to be the main flagship phone chipset of 2021.