While phone makers are exploring foldable phones and new form factors, Oppo is now gearing up to show off the next leap in smartphone design. At its much-awaited INNO Day 2020 conference, which kicks off tomorrow (November 17), Oppo will show off a concept smartphone with a retractable display. The company is teasing this device on Chinese micro-blogging platform, Weibo.
“Big screen? Small screen? Infinite screen? In the future, your mobile phone may be able to retract freely,” reads the Weibo post (translated from Chinese to English). The render in the teaser poster below also hints at an extendable display as only half of the top bezel can be seen here. The display appears to extend out of the main body.
Display technology is fast-evolving and phone makers are have already started looking past foldables to provide users an immersive viewing experience. They want to deliver a smartphone that looks like any other glass slab at first sight but the display expands to offer a tablet-like experience going forward. Oppo has also been awarded patents for this form factor.
In April earlier this year, Oppo filed a patent for a square-shaped compact smartphone with a stretchable display. The patent filing included close to 28 photos showcasing the design and well, the teaser image looks almost the same.
You have two flat edges and two curved edges onboard, with one of the curved edges featuring the retractable mechanism. It will allow you to stretch the display and turn the square device into a full-blown tall phone or tablet experience. We also do not see a punch-hole selfie camera cutout, so Oppo may bake its under-display camera technology as well. It has been in development for quite some time and the company has already shown it off at the previous INNO Day last year.
Apart from Oppo, renowned phone makers such as ZTE and LG are also known to be actively working on the development of smartphones with a stretchable/ retractable display.
