Compal presents Scroll rollable phone concept and ZeroEdge laptop OLED displays

Compal has been quite active in the past few years when it comes to presenting ingenious concepts, and this year, at the IF Design Awards competition, the Taiwanese electronics manufacturer and designer is once again showcasing its latest visions that may transform the industry in the coming years. For 2021, Compal has submitted a couple of notable designs that include a smartphone with a rollable display and laptop displays with 99% screen-to-body ratio.

The smartphone design is dubbed Scroll and presents an interesting take on devices with rollable displays. Unlike LG’s and OPPO’s designs, which rely on mechanisms that essentially transform a narrower smartphone display into a tablet-sized screen, the Compal concept resembles an ancient scroll, with a tube-like case that hides a 10-inch touchscreen rolled up inside. Users may unroll the screen to any degree they see fit, so the device can easily act as a smartphone or a tablet. It can even be used without accessing the rollable screen, as the case comes with a secondary elongated screen that displays notifications, a music player UI, and other such simpler elements. Above the secondary display we also see a single main camera, and the case also features a speaker.

As for the virtually bezel-less laptop screen that is dubbed ZeroEdge, Compal proposes a 14-inch OLED panel that wraps around the left / right edges, but still has very thin top / bottom bezels. The top bezel is probably the most noticeable as it is used to essentially fuse the back plate with the display, while the bottom edge is connected to a special hinge that allows the screen to appear as floating above the keyboard. This design should shave off quite a few grams from the total weight and also allow for a slimmer profile. Additionally, laptop OEMs could utilize the lateral screen edges to implement side touch functions like the ones we see on smartphones with curved displays. Compal also shows an image where two laptops are placed next to each other to create a “seamless” multi-display experience.

Most of Compal’s designs never actually materialize, so there is no guarantee that we could see such concepts implemented in commercial devices. Not directly from Compal, at least, but some other bigger companies might end up getting “inspired.”

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