Oppo shows off AR glasses and… a rolling phone?

Oppo, that brand that just launched a series of pretty decent phones in South Africa, has just finished up hosting its second “Inno Day” event. The event, which happened digitally, mainly presented some of Oppo’s next big ideas going into 2021 and beyond. There were some really cool devices shown off as well and as much as we enjoy the idea of a neat set of AR glasses (we’ll get there in a second), the rolling phone is the thing that really caught our attention. Seriously, once you see this thing in action, you’ll wish for it to immediately exit the “concept” stage and enter reality.

Named the Oppo X 2021 (which is likely to change if this thing actually gets released) is the result of Oppo throwing stacks of cash into flexible displays for mobile devices and it clearly shows. Just… watch the gif. In a “regular” smartphone setup, the OLED screen measures in at 6.7in. Here, however, the device has the ability to expand outward at the push of a button, extending the screen to 7.4in.

The device features three major Oppo proprietary technologies: Roll Motor powertrain, 2-in-1 Plate, and Warp Track high-strength screen laminate.  It’ll no doubt be unfathomably expensive if the concept does see the light of public day but it’s just… really cool.

Oppo has eyes for AR

The other big concept showed off during the Inno Day event was the Oppo AR Glass 2021. The high tech glasses do exactly what you expect them to and project visualisations of… stuff onto the lens. Like playing Pokémon Go but it’s being directly beamed straight into your eyes. The 2021 version of the AR specs is reportedly 75% lighter than the previous iteration which was shown off at last year’s Inno Day celebration.

According to a press release, the Oppo AR Glass 2021, “features a diverse sensor array, including two fisheye cameras, one ToF depth sensor, and one RGB sensor. It can complete the three-dimensional spatial localisation calculation within milliseconds, achieving precise positioning and offering users real and natural experience of spatial interaction in the AR world through constant updates and feedback of real-time positioning of the user within the space.”

Whether or not these products actually make it out of prototyping and into the hands of consumers is still unknown but it’s really cool to know that we might one day have a phone that seamlessly morphs into a tablet. Fingers crossed!