Concept Phones

Lenovo held its Tech World 2023 expo yesterday, with Motorola taking a second stab at a flexible smartphone concept that can be wrapped around the wrist like a bracelet, arched on a table top or stood on its own base.

Xiaomi snuggled up with Leica back in June for the launch of the 12S Ultra smartphone featuring a 1-inch-type image sensor and Summicron optics. Now the companies have partnered again on a concept version with a lens adapter for mounting Leica glass.

At its Tech World 2022 event earlier this week, Lenovo demonstrated a Motorola handset prototype that grows to 6.5 inches at the push of a button and a laptop concept with a display that expands upward to give users more screen space when needed.

Last month, Oppo offered a glimpse into a possible smartphone future with the Oppo X 2021, a concept with a rollable display. Now the company has demonstrated another concept at the China International Industrial Design Expo – the slide-phone.

Although foldable phones have only just made their way onto the smartphone scene, manufacturers are already exploring the next innovation: handsets with rollable displays. One of the first to break cover is the Oppo X 2021 concept phone.

Mobile World Congress in Barcelona is not happening this year, meaning phone makers are being forced to make announcements online only. China's Vivo is the latest to do so with the curvy Apex 2020 concept, featuring a next level camera system.

Xiaomi has unveiled the Mi Mix Alpha, a concept phone with a screen that wraps around the back – plus a frankly-ridiculous 108-megapixel camera.

Vivo introduced a novel concept smartphone earlier this week. Not only does the Apex almost get rid of bezels from the front, but sounds belt out from the screen itself, half the display is a fingerprint scanner and the front camera pops up from inside the body when needed, and disappears when not.

​Look mom, no bezels: Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi demonstrates serious experimental clout with its new Mi Mix concept phone, a device with a daring ceramic build and nearly-edgeless display.​

Claimed to be the world's first virtual musical instrument for flexible phones, Queen's University's new "WhammyPhone" prototype promises kinesthetic control never before experienced on a smartphone.

Researchers at Queen's University's Human Media Lab have created a prototype smartphone called ReFlex, that features a flexible display and advanced tactile feedback, simulating the sensation flipping through the pages of a book.

Described as a multi-display, shape-changing smartphone, the PaperFold allows up to three separate E-Ink displays to be combined into various shapes to support different functions and provide extra screen real estate when required.