Over past 18 months, South Korean tech giant LG had been on a roll. Literally at that. The company announced a smartphone with a rollable display, which sold only to its employees. Then came the rollable OLED TV that was priced beyond a luxury sedan. Now, we hear that the company may use this technology on passenger cars.
The Korean company filed a patent application with the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), originally spotted by 91mobiles. The filings contain drawings of a foldable infotainment display panel for passenger cars, in what may be a replica of how the LG rollable OLED TV functioned.
The LG OLED TV and the rollable display phone were part of LG's announcements at the CES 2021. Ironically, the latter was supposed to launch first and did pass a few of the requisite certifications, before being abandoned. That too, weeks before LG went off the smartphone grid completely.
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What's LG dallying with this time?
Coming to the foldable infotainment display, LG's patent filing seems to indicate that the panel would unfold from the back into a larger screen on the dashboard. It also looks like the panel would display content whether folded or spread out, where the resolution could be the sole differentiator.
The design of the car display aims to save space on the dashboard besides offering protection to the screen when it is not in use. The patent display has not revealed any addition details of the device and we can only hope that LG does bring at least this part of its rollable screen technology into customer applications.
We may need to wait some more before getting to know the technical specifications of the new device. This includes the panel dimensions, the various use cases of the rollable panel, it's compatibility with the dashboards provided by various passenger car makers etc. Of course, all of this comes only after the prototype arrives, and given LG's track record on this one, we expect a good time lag from now till then.
LG's roller-coaster ride to nowhere, as yet
In the past, the LG Rollable had created some interest around the industry as it was for the first time that a screen was rolling into a slot, unlike foldable devices that had a hinge and simply shut and opened. The device, which was announced early in 2021 failed to reach customers as the limited devices LG made was given to employees.
However, what LG's announcement did do was that we had a few competitors also jumping the bandwagon, such as the Oppo X 2021 followed by TCL confirming it's launching a rolling or folding smartphone. Ironically, we haven't heard anything more from either of these brands, though Oppo is set to launch its first foldable device with the Oppo Find N moniker.
As for its rollable television, LG recently announced the LG Rollable OLED TV R a full three years after it debuted at CES 2018. It raised many eyebrows by asking for a cool $100,000 for the set. The company later indicated that more than the screen, the new device boasted of top quality sound system made possible due to the rolling screen that actually unfurls the television.
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