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OPPO Shows a Rolling Smartphone at Inno Day
OPPO has held its second annual “Inno Day,” to show off products in concept form and sets out its vision for the future. Headlining this year is a smartphone with an expandable “rolling” screen and a new set of AR glasses. The OPPO X 2021 is a concept phone that the company says is the result of its research and development flexible displays. In regular smartphone use the OLED display has a 6.7-inch surface area, but that can be expanded to a squarer, tablet-like 7.4-inch panel depending on the content or use case.
The phone slid all the way open. OPPO said it developed its own power train, structural plate, and screen laminate to ensure the device’s durability.
Figure 1: OPPO Rolling Screen
OPPO has held its second annual “Inno Day,” to show off products in concept form and sets out its vision for the future. Headlining this year is a smartphone with an expandable “rolling” screen and a new set of AR glasses. The OPPO X 2021 is a concept phone that the company says is the result of its research and development flexible displays. In regular smartphone use the OLED display has a 6.7-inch surface area, but that can be expanded to a squarer, tablet-like 7.4-inch panel depending on the content or use case.
The phone slid all the way open. OPPO said it developed its own power train, structural plate, and screen laminate to ensure the device’s durability.
Figure 1: OPPO Rolling Screen
OPPO isn’t the first company to hit on this idea for a form factor. TCL showed off a similar prototype earlier this year, although the model was nonfunctional and only had a paper screen. OPPO, however, is a much more experienced smartphone manufacturer with access to a hugely advanced supply chain, and it does have form releasing weird phones with motorized designs. LG has also teased a similar device.
The other new concept product announced today is OPPO AR Glass 2021, the company’s latest take on AR. OPPO says it’s nearly 75 percent lighter than its predecessor — which was also a concept device at last year’s Inno Day — and uses birdbath-type optics with 0.71-inch OLED panels. The glasses include stereo fisheye cameras for gesture recognition, a time-of-flight sensor, and a conventional RGB camera. They can also be hooked up directly to a Find X2 Pro phone with a USB-C cable to make use of its greater processing power.
Figure 2: OPPO AR Glass 2021 (1)
The other new concept product announced today is OPPO AR Glass 2021, the company’s latest take on AR. OPPO says it’s nearly 75 percent lighter than its predecessor — which was also a concept device at last year’s Inno Day — and uses birdbath-type optics with 0.71-inch OLED panels. The glasses include stereo fisheye cameras for gesture recognition, a time-of-flight sensor, and a conventional RGB camera. They can also be hooked up directly to a Find X2 Pro phone with a USB-C cable to make use of its greater processing power.
Figure 2: OPPO AR Glass 2021 (1)
- The display rolls out from one side as a motorized function, no manual pulling or pushing required.
- OPPO detailed technologies and mechanical features to ensure the display is supported as it rolls out, and a caterpillar track-like resistance as the display extends or retracts.
- OPPO is calling the concept device the OPPO X 2021, and claims there’s no crease in the screen at all, as exists along the folded line in current foldable phones.
- It’s unclear if OPPO has equipped the screen with protective glass or if it’s made out of plastic as we’ve seen with the first Galaxy Fold.
- What’s on show was clearly a best-case scenario where the transition from smartphone to the wider tablet view is likely rendered to be that smooth on the display. But the motorized function looked great.
- LG is working on a rollable phone of its own, with a design leaked out in September, with Korean media reporting a March 2021 launch.
- OPPO was reportedly using BOE s OLED displays
Given that neither OPPO’s founder and CEO, Tony Chen, nor OPPO vice president Levin Liu had it in their hands on stage to show off, it may be a little early, and not ready for the always stressful live demo. But Oppo did post some short video to Weibo, and then a bunch of tech people at the event in China posted various images and gifs, like the below.
Figure 3: OPPO Rolling Screen (2)
