Is this concept really the future of smartphones?

Concept devices can often be ‘vapourware’ and never arrive on the market, but Motorola’s flexible smartphone might well be the future of the smartphone form factor. 

I checked it out at MWC 2024 in Barcelona this week, and while there are some aspects I like, there are others I’m definitely not looking for in a smartphone. 

Although concepts are good and bad for various reasons, which I won’t get into here, they do offer a potential look at what’s to come in the years ahead. Motorola’s Adaptive display concept is futuristic, if nothing else. 

It’s really a flexible phone and is commonly known in tech circles as the ‘bendy phone’.  

As with many concept devices, the firm is light on details, saying only that it has a Full HD+ pOLED display and runs a “a full Android experience, just like any smartphone”. There’s also a camera in a punch-hole notch for which we don’t know the specs. 

That’s not really the point though, it’s what this gymnastic gadget can do that’s important. We’ve seen plenty of pOLED panels in foldable phones including Motorola’s Razr series but the Adaptive display concept bends the other way. 

This is achieved by attaching the flexible screen to a section, that to me looks a bit like a mattress, which can bend in the middle and stay put at almost any angle you want.

The list goes on but it’s Motorola’s final use case that I find mind-boggling

You can use the 6.9in screen completely flat like a normal smartphone and then bend the device into different modes depending on your needs, much like a 2-in-1 laptop with a 360 degree hinge. 

On the whole, I think this opens up some nice options. For starters, you never need to buy a phone stand ever again and means that I can put my phone next to my laptop as a second screen whether I’m sat at my desk or in a coffee shop. 

There’s more than one stand option as you can have the bendy phone sat upright as it were, bent over like a bridge or sloped like a wedge. And the phone is clever enough to know which mode you’re in and shifts the user interface to a 4.6in usable section of the screen.

I use my phone a lot while working on another display so this really appeals to me. I can think of various other uses too, including as a bedside clock, hands-free video calling wherever you are or watching content on a plane without having to hold the phone. 

The list goes on but it’s Motorola’s final use case that I find mind-boggling.

Since the display can bend far enough into a ‘U’ shape, it can fit around your wrist as what can only be described as the most stupid smartwatch I’ve ever seen. It does attach to a strap you already have on your wrist with magnets to secure it, but I still think this is insane. 

Motorola says it gives you an experience like the external display on the Razr+ (or Razr 40 Ultra in the UK) to “stay connected while on the go” but not only would I worry about it falling off or getting damaged, it just looks ridiculous and is a job – go figure – a smartwatch will always be able to do a million times better. 

This is, of course, hypothetical to some extent and it’s unclear with concepts like this whether a final consumer device will ever actually go on sale.  

However, I’d say this is one of the more likely concepts you’ll be able to get your hands on but when is another question. There are clearly lots of challenges and limitations in a design like this. The bendy section presumably limits the space for things like a reasonable size battery (it’s perhaps telling that the firm was only doing demos of it every 30 minutes). 

On the other hand, a very early form of this device was first shown off in 2016, so perhaps we’re closer to seeing one go on sale than many think.  

I’d certainly be interested to give one a go if it does get released – I just won’t be wearing it on my wrist when I pop to the shops.