With a rollable concept, Motorola’s Rizr rises above everything else on show at this year’s MWC

“The 6.5″ pOLED display utilises many of our learnings from Razr, and the way the screen rolls around the back of the device allows for many unique use cases like checking notifications, the time, accepting phone calls or viewfinder previews of the camera,” Jeff Snow, General Manager of Product Innovation at Motorola told indianexpress.com in an email interview on the sidelines of MWC 2023.

The Rizr, which Motorola calls a proof of concept, isn’t trying to replace foldable devices such as the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Motorola Razr. Rather, the Motorola Rizr offers an alternative view of looking at the market for smartphones with emerging form factors. Clearly, both rollables and foldables can co-exist with their unique advantages.

“Besides the obvious roll instead of fold, with this rollable technology we are able to give consumers a full android experience in a compact, 5″ screen without sacrificing screen space when you want it,” he added.

Be it foldables or rollables – the basic idea continues to be the same: how to give users more screen real estate while also keeping the phone compact. But of course, both folding and rollable screens have different implementations at the surface level, which is why companies like Lenovo are testing rollable devices that can expand and not fold in half or open up like a book.

The foldable smartphone market has been around for a few years, but after the release of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip and Motorola Razr, the segment saw an uptick. The foldable handsets in the beginning, like any other first-generation products, were buggy and had durability issues. But the latest devices with folding screens are more polished , although they are far from being as reliable as tried-and-tested glass slab designs.

Rollable devices will also have a similar journey as any other new product category. Motorola’s concept phone, at this stage at least, is quite wide and feels bulky when held in the hand. There are also questions on how durable the display is since the screen will be rolled and unrolled multiple times in a day. Another burning question is how much does the battery last and whether or not the rollable phone will offer water resistance. Motorola, obviously, has no answers but then again, the Rizr is a concept phone, far from being a finished product that is ready to be shipped to consumers.

“This project is unique because we built an initial proof of concept to determine how the design would be and determine the next steps to commercialization,” Snow explained. “We are still deep in the concept development phase,” he clarified.

Motorola, clearly, is not in a rush to launch the Rizr as a commercial product yet. The rollable display technology has a long way to go before it reaches the hands of consumers, but Snow said Motorola will “continue exploring new form factors that can be pocketable without sacrificing a bigger screen”.

Lenovo, Motrola’s parent company and the world’s largest PC maker, is also testing the rollable screen tech in a laptop form factor. The device uses the same rollable technology, with a 12.7-inch screen that expands to 15.3 inches when rolled out. This device, like the Motorola Rizr, is also far from being ready to be released commercially.