The MWC 2023 is just getting started and the ‘Motorola Rizr’ rollable concept smartphone has been spotted. It’s on display in Barcelona, and it managed to attract a lot of attention.
The ‘Motorola Rizr’ rollable concept phone is displayed at MWC 2023
Ben Wood, the Chief Analyst and CMO at CSS Insight managed to get his hands on the device. If you take a look at his tweet below, you’ll see a video clip attached to it. That video clip lasts 39 seconds, and it shows you the phone from both sides, and its rolling prowess.
👀 Wow! Think I’ve found my favourite gadget at #MWC23 before it even starts. This concept rollable is really impressive and @Moto was confident enough to let us have hands-on time. Interesting to watch the road to commercialisation on this one… pic.twitter.com/EDgkWsOm1t
— Ben Wood (@benwood) February 26, 2023
The phone extends upwards, as part of the display moves from the back to the front. The bottom part of the phone slopes downwards, as that’s where the display curves. That part of the display, the back part, seems to be inactive until you roll it out.
Once the phone is fully rolled out, you’ll notice the ‘Rizr’ branding on the back of the plate that extended itself upwards. That is a thin piece of plastic with a display on the front, it would seem.
It looks very compact when rolled in
This phone also has two cameras on the back, and it’s quite compact when not extended. It actually reminds us of the OPPO Find N2 when rolled in. It definitely looks different, and we always like to see designs such as this one.
If the ‘Rizr’ name sounds familiar to you, there’s a good reason for it. The ‘Rizr’ series is actually a series of Motorola sliding phones. The very first model was released way back in 2006. Those phones were quite popular back in the day.
You can check out some additional images Ben Wood shared in the gallery below, four of them. These will give you a good look at the phone, front basically all sides.
It would be nice to see this handset available to purchase at some point
It remains to be seen if this phone will ever become a reality, but it would certainly be nice to see it. Motorola does have quite a bit of experience with foldable phones, so it would be nice to see the company release a rollable as well.
Not a single rollable smartphone became commercially available thus far. OPPO did show off its unit at the end of 2020, while LG was supposed to actually launch its rollable before it gave up on smartphones entirely. Will Motorola be the first to actually make it possible for consumers to buy a rollable? Only time will tell.
2023-02-26 15:08:28