Oppo?s rollable concept phone is pure potential lacking polish

That’s the magic number of times Oppo wants its rollable X 2021 concept phone to be able to expand and contract before it’ll consider it durable enough to turn into a commercial device. But after having spent an afternoon using the company’s prototype device for myself, it’s clear that hitting this arbitrary number is far from the only challenge Oppo is facing in bringing this device to market.At first glance, the Oppo X 2021 looks like a regular 6.7-inch smartphone, designed to do everything you’d expect a regular smartphone to be able to do. Meanwhile, the screen itself is rolling around the left hand side of the phone, curving around a 6.8mm axis that Oppo says allows the screen to unroll with “virtually no trace.” Behind this screen are a series of metal slats, which slot together to support the screen regardless of whether it’s expanded or contracted.There’s a lot going on inside the phone, which puts the overall device on the heavier, bulkier side. We’ve long held that the creases found on foldable devices like the Galaxy Z Fold 2 aren’t nearly as much of a problem once you’re actually using the device, but that’s not much consolation when you’re spending over $1,000.The X 2021’s minimal crease is thanks to the fact the screen doesn’t need to bend anywhere near as sharply as it rolls round the edge of the phone.