Motors whine like a dentist’s drill. Screen slides out, promising endless real estate. But hold on — this is LG’s Rollable, the ghost phone that haunts CES memories, now gutted on YouTube.
JerryRigEverything — Zack Nelson to his mom — snagged what might be the exact demo unit from 2021. He tears it down, piece by clunky piece. And yeah, it’s mesmerizing. Until it’s not.
LG’s Last Gasp
LG bowed out of phones five years back. Couldn’t hang with Samsung’s foldable empire. So they teased this: a rollable screen that expands 40% without folding’s bulk. Swipe, motors engage, poof — bigger display. Sounds slick. Right?
Wrong. Peek inside, and it’s a Rube Goldberg fever dream. Two tiny motors — straight teeth meshing with tracks. Zipper teeth lock the OLED in place. Spring-loaded arms keep it taut. Battery tray shifts like a bad magic trick. All to avoid fold creases.
The motors make a surprising amount of noise when operating, so LG designed the phone to play a musical chime to hide the sound.
Chimes? To mask the grind? That’s not innovation. That’s denial.
Prototype vibes scream unfinished: chunky frame, exposed screws. Zack reassembles it without total destruction. Lucky for history buffs.
But here’s my hot take — one the teardown skips: this reeks of 3D TV syndrome. Remember 2010? Every set shipped with glasses nobody wanted. Hype drowned real needs (better pixels, anyone?). Rollables? Same trap. Flexible OLEDs hit prime time via folds. Rollables chase novelty, ignoring cost and durability.
LG bet big. Lost. Foldables iterated — Samsung’s Z Fold6 slims down yearly. Rollables? Crickets. Motorola toyed with one in 2023. Vaporware.
Why No Rollable Revolution?
Cost. Duh. Foldables launch at $1,800. Rollables? Double that, easy. Those motors alone — custom, noisy, power-hungry. Lattice arms? Fragile as a spiderweb. One drop, and your screen’s a crumpled mess.
Durability roulette. Folds have hinges we’ve battle-tested. Rollables? Screen rolls over edges, teeth could snag. Dust? Forget it. And noise — that chime gimmick won’t fly in a quiet boardroom.
Battery life’s another killer. Motors guzzle juice. Expanding screen means more power draw. LG’s tray helps, but prototypes lie. Real-world? You’d recharge mid-Netflix.
Look, LG quit phones smartly. Stuck to TVs, appliances. Rollable was their hail mary — flashy teaser to lure buyers pre-exit. Didn’t work. Nobody clamored.
Unique angle: parallels the stylus era. Treo, Palm — styluses ruled till iPhone killed ‘em. Rollables? Fancy motors distracting from touchscreens that just work. Foldables won by solving ‘bigger screen’ without gimmicks. Prediction: rollables niche forever, like e-ink phones. Fun for tinkerers. Useless for mortals.
Could Rollables Ever Work?
Maybe. Slimmer motors — silent ones. Cheaper OLED rolls. But Samsung’s all-in on folds; Oppo, Vivo iterate there too. Rollables need a killer app. Multitasking? Nah, software lags. Gaming? Too thick.
China might push ‘em — Tecno’s got concepts. But West? Premium buyers want polish, not prototypes. And prices gotta crash below $800. Won’t happen soon.
Zack’s vid proves it: cool to watch, hell to live with. LG knew. That’s why it stayed shelved.
Punchy truth: rollable phones aren’t a thing because they’re overengineered toys. Folds deliver 80% benefit at half the hassle. Engineers love complexity — users don’t.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is the LG Rollable phone?
Unreleased 2021 prototype with a motorized screen that rolls out from the back, expanding display size by 40%.
Why didn’t LG release the Rollable?
Too complex, costly, and unreliable — noisy motors, fragile mechanics doomed it as LG exited smartphones.
Are rollable phones coming back?
Doubtful. Foldables dominate; rollables remain prototypes without real-world viability.
