LG V70 and Rollable shown off in photos as the company confirms they won’t be released

Ben Schoon | Apr 7 2021 - 7:02 am PT

Perhaps the biggest story in smartphones so far this year has been LG’s departure from the market. The company is set to close its doors soon on over two decades of mobile experience, and it leaves behind some unfinished projects. After the announcement went official, images of the unreleased LG V70 and the anticipated Rollable hit Twitter, showing what the company had in store for 2021.

The LG V-series was the company’s flagship lineup as of 2020, offering the top-end package that didn’t hold much of anything back on specs or features. We rather enjoyed the V60 last year with its great hardware and stellar battery life, as well as a reasonable price point.

For 2021, the LG V70 would have arrived, and it seems it would have followed closely behind the LG Velvet in terms of design. Instead of following the design of the V60, this year’s refresh would have picked up rounded glass on the back, shiny metal side rails, and the unique camera design, albeit with a much larger bump in tow. The device would have carried the codename “Rainbow.”

Also on LG’s high-end spectrum was the LG Rollable, the company’s next release as part of the “Explorer Project” that also spawned the Wing in 2020. LG had already committed to the Rollable’s release this year, and the image shown off this week makes it fairly obvious that LG was somewhat close to a finished project.

It should be pretty obvious, but these phones are definitely not going to see the light of day. LG’s press release made it pretty clear that no new phones would be released, but in a statement to Android Authority the company further confirmed the news, saying:

Not sure how authentic those images are but neither device will be developed any further.

It’s especially a shame to see that the Rollable won’t be making its debut, as that was set to be an influential device. To date, flexible displays have only been released in variations of foldables, with no rollables actually making it to market so far. TCL is working on some neat ideas, but LG was much closer to bringing the ideas to customers. That would have presented more competition to Samsung and others, but now, they won’t. LG’s wacky ideas and the competition they provided to the smartphone industry is what will be missed more than anything else. RIP.