CES 2024: Motorola Reveals Smartphone On Wrist Concept

Motorola has unveiled a bendable concept device that is a combination of a smartphone and wearable device.

Motorola is owned by Lenovo, and it was back in October 2023 at Lenovo’s Tech World, when it first teased the smartphone that could bend and can wrap around a person’s wrist.

But now at this week’s Mobile World Congress 2024 trade show in Barcelona, Motorola has showed off the bendable smartphone.

It comes after Lenovo this week also revealed a concept transparent laptop, where items are visible on the other side of clear glass display.

Adaptive display concept

The Motorola device is dubbed the ‘adaptive display concept’ and esssentially it is a folding smartphone that attaches to a person’s wrist via a strap accessory, CNBC reported.

When unfolded, the concept device looks and feels just like a regular smartphone that offers a 6.9-inch display.

The standalone strap uses magnets to attach the concept device to a person’s wrist, and the user interface is reportedly “contextually aware”, in that it adapts the display depending on how it is bent.

For example the device can detect when it is in wrist mode and places a large clock widget on the upper portion of the screen.

It should be noted that this device is still a concept at this stage, and there is no word on when (or indeed if) it will go on sale.

However it does hint at Motorola’s thinking for bendable devices in the future, where people could be wearing their smartphone on their wrist.

In one demonstration, CNBC reported that the representative used the phone to take a picture of a dress. The phone then generated a background that complemented the outfit.

That background could reportedly be applied to the device, so that when a user wears it, the phone is a fashion accessory.

Motorola heritage

Motorola was an American telecom powerhouse that had been founded as far back as 1928. But it has a long history in mobile phones, having demonstrated the first hand-held portable telephone in 1973.

In the 1990s Motorola was one of the biggest mobile phones manufacturers, before it was overtaken by Nokia.

Following losses of $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, Motorola was split into two independent public companies, namely Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions, on January 2011.

Motorola Mobility primarily focused on producing smartphones and other mobile devices running Android, and was eventually acquired by Google.

But just two years later in January 2014, Chinese computing giant Lenovo bought Motorola from Google.

In 2015 Lenovo pooled all of its smartphone efforts into the Motorola brand.

Motorola is perhaps best known for its iconic Razr flip-phone and its famous ‘Hello Moto’ advertising tagline.

Motorola revived its iconic Razr brand in 2019/2020 as a foldable smartphone.