---
title: 'Phones Stopped Getting Better: The LG Rollable Story'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=5aeRzu1Rd8w'
video_id: '5aeRzu1Rd8w'
date: 2026-07-26
duration_sec: 709
---

# Phones Stopped Getting Better: The LG Rollable Story

> Source: [Phones Stopped Getting Better: The LG Rollable Story](https://youtube.com/watch?v=5aeRzu1Rd8w)

## Summary

The LG Rollable was a prototype phone with an expandable display that never reached consumers due to LG's exit from the mobile market. This video explores its innovative mechanism, durability issues, and the story behind its failure.

### Key Points

- **Introduction of LG Rollable** [00:00] — The LG Rollable is a prototype phone that expands by rolling out its display, never released due to LG's mobile division closure.
- **Expansion Mechanism** [02:21] — Tapping and holding a button rolls the screen out from the side, expanding from 6.8 to 7.4 inches.
- **Comparison to Foldables** [03:12] — The Rollable has a wider screen than the Z Fold when expanded and no crease, but has a lump where the roller mechanism sits.
- **Continuous Size Adjustment** [06:37] — Unlike foldables locked to two states, the Rollable can stop at any size, offering more flexibility.
- **Durability Issue** [06:52] — Within an hour of use, a permanent scratch appeared on the display, highlighting the vulnerability of the exposed screen.
- **LG's Financial Struggles** [09:38] — LG Mobile lost over $4 billion in 23 straight quarters, leading to the division's shutdown in 2021.
- **Hardware Team's Creativity** [10:22] — Despite financial failure, LG's hardware team produced innovative devices like the Wing and Rollable.

### Conclusion

The LG Rollable was a visionary prototype that never shipped due to durability challenges and LG's financial collapse. It remains a fascinating what-if that hints at the future potential of rollable displays.

## Transcript

I have ever gotten my hands on. that never saw the light of day until now. This, my friends, is the LG Rollable.
And there is quite the story why it ultimately failed, and how I got my hands on it. But that last one will not be spoken about in this video.
For years, LG was one of the biggest competitors to Samsung. like the LG Wing which is actually a phone because I hosted the launch event for LG.
Instead of being a folding phone, It is such a cool idea. is that at the very end of that launch event,
(soft, mysterious music) saying that they hoped to release it by the end of the year.
because just three months after CES, its mobile division. Well, as you can see, it wasn't just a concept.
There are a couple of videos out there, But until very recently, none of these prototypes And while we were in the middle of working on this video,
on a Rollable and he did a full breakdown But I want do something a little bit different. So let me give you a little tour of the LG Rollable.
So it is a really weird phone. the more it kind of breaks my brain. it looks like a fairly standard early 2020 style flagship.
is just the fact that you do have the curved edges, something like the S7 Edge. you can see it's actually like fairly chunky.
And on the back, that's where it looks super wacky. So the way it works is if you tap and hold the button, This hardware, this prototype
was somewhere between like six and maybe up to nine months So clearly it was not finished by any means. this was actually fairly close
that they would've done before actually shipping it. So on this side, there are volume rockers. I don't fully know why.
So that does feel a little prototype-y to me it just vibrates the phone. When you open it up though,
You can see that the Z Fold's a little bit wider, where you're getting like, I don't know, There is some kind of sensor built into the actual motor,
so that if you try to, say, open the screen and then squish it, yeah, it stops and rewinds and I don't wanna do that that many times
is if we do a little three finger on it, and of course roll it to the back, right? is actually now protected.
underneath an existing panel of glass. I like the little split keyboard when you open it up. to like if you're typing on like a Fold or something.
so actually pretty good. Shall we open up the YouTube app? So you put them side by side, if we expand them,
I mean, you can see just how much bigger the screen is here Wow, okay. a run for its money.
(phone humming euphorically) like that's legitimately really cool. I have some thoughts.
that living with a five-year-old prototype phone So first things first, So I ended up tethering it to my Fold 7.
that my foldable was supporting my Rollable. I would just do this all day long. It is the most lovely sound ever.
I mean the screen is not like massively bright or anything, it is the most reflective surface known to mankind.
maybe they would've put a film or something on it. But for the most part the phone works well. but like it's, it-
I will say that the rollability of the phone itself Everyone I've showed this phone to "Oh my god, that's a magic folding phone,
"What the heck?" Now, on paper, going from 7.4 to 6.8 inches But in practice, (laughing).
doesn't sound like a big difference. you are looking at roughly three quarters of the size And the aspect ratio when it's expanded,
which means the video really fills the screen nicely. when you're watching high quality Austin Evans productions. And I think that this is the real selling point
With a foldable, the display is locked into two states, A Rollable can theoretically stop anywhere in between. It is such a cool idea
But here's the thing, within an hour of using this phone, I found a scratch on the left edge of the display. that you can feel,
you can really clearly tell I really don't understand how it happened. maybe a couple times to show people the mechanism
The scratch is now permanent all the way down to the OLED. A foldable display is fragile too, protected by the actual phone chassis itself.
it is always exposed. how you would ever put a screen protector on this. the idea that that screen has to be able to be flexible
I just can't imagine that would hold up long term. It doesn't have a crease, which is great, where you can feel the roller mechanism underneath.
as like one of those early creases in foldable phones, I mean, it just, it's like, bump, bump, bump, bump. That's, that doesn't show.
My solar death ray shows you exactly where the lump is. of when Motorola rebooted the Razr back in 2019. But the big catch
kind of product. It was like a little teardrop thing, for how expensive that phone was, even for 2019 standards.
We're five, six generations later and the Razr works great. and the ultra thin glass. foldables are having a real mainstream moment right now.
that no one has shipped a Rollable So in 2023, Ken and I got hands on that were around at the time, the Motorola Rizr,
The Rizr is the one that goes like this. Now, I kind of think that because instead of going wider,
It's a small phone that becomes a tall phone. very similar to the Rollable. with the Z Flip or the Razr.
So here's the question I keep coming back to. Even if LG had shipped this, would it have even mattered? Honestly, maybe, but definitely not for LG.
LG Mobile were over $4 billion in losses. out of 23 straight quarters of losses. They tried to sell the mobile division to Volkswagen
As cool as it is, the Rollable was never going to fix that. is that the people who built this thing I mean, you look at that last stretch from LG
and the hardware team were on a genuinely incredible run. The Wing was one of the most creative devices And the Rollable?
to at least be that first generation Any flexible OLED screen has serious durability issues. that can handle being exposed to like pocket lint
tens if not hundreds of thousands of times. that the Gorilla Glass on a normal smartphone will give you.
I think this is the real answer It's not the motors or the mechanism that just hasn't caught up to what the rolly boy life needs.
It is a genuine piece of history. And, yeah, it probably wouldn't have saved LG, that rollable phones could actually work.
Now, this phone was never supposed to leave the building, It's a phone from an alternate timeline I mean, they didn't, but, man, they sure came close.
(upbeat music)