Are LG phones set for a comeback? New patent offers a glimmer of hope

In context: It may seem like yesterday, but LG's phone division went out of business way back in April 2021, taking some of the most innovative foldable/rollable designs we had ever seen with it. As cool as those designs were, they were perhaps too wild for their own good and never caught on, sealing the division's fate. Or did it? Fresh patent filings reveal that LG may still have a few cards to play.

For a quick refresher, LG was working on this wild rollable smartphone concept, aptly dubbed the "LG Rollable." It even made it to the prototype stage, but the project was ultimately shelved when LG bid farewell to the smartphone market.

The phone gained greater media attention a year later in 2022 when a hands-on review from BullsLab surfaced. The device featured a screen that could extend from a 6.8-inch display to a 7.4-inch mini-tablet. It also featured a Snapdragon 888 processor with 12GB RAM and a 4,500mAh battery.

However, it appears now that LG Display, the display manufacturing subsidiary of LG Group, has been quietly tinkering away on the rollable display tech. Their latest patent, filed in October 2023 and published this month, describes a clever magnetic system to keep that extendable OLED screen smooth and wrinkle-free.

Here's how it works: a magnetic sheet is added to the back of the display, while magnets are built into the device's frame. This magnetic force helps smooth out any wrinkles that may form when the screen is extended or retracted, allowing the display to return to a pristine, flat state faster.

The 21-page patent application even includes detailed schematics showing how this rolling display tech could be adapted for both smartphone-sized devices and larger formats.

Before you get too excited, it's important to note that LG hasn't made any official announcements about reviving its smartphone efforts. Phone makers file patents all the time, mostly to protect their intellectual property. So, the chances are extremely slim here.

Still, it's hard not to feel a twinge of excitement at the thought of LG's return to the smartphone game. After all, it's the same company behind quirky gems like the dual-screen LG Wing, the curved LG G Flex 2, and the detachable secondary display on the LG V60 ThinQ.

A rollable phone with an extendable display would fit right in with LG's penchant for unique, futuristic designs. And who knows, maybe this patented tech could find its way into a device from another manufacturer if LG decides to license it out.