Motorola shows off a concept smartphone that can wrap around your wrist

BARCELONA, Spain — Motorola thinks we may be wearing our phones on our wrist in future.

The company, which is owned by Chinese tech giant Lenovo, showed off a bendable smartphone during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, after teasing it in a video last year.

It is just a concept product so it may never be released. But Motorola is keen to show the progress of display technology to stand out in the crowded smartphone market.

During a demonstration, a Motorola representative showed how the phone could bend in various ways to wrap around a wrist or stand up on a table.

When the phone is wrapped around the wrist, the way information is displayed changes. For example, the apps appear at the top of the screen.

The representative said the phone is "contextually aware" so adapts depending on how it has been bent.

The mechanism that allows the phone to bend was desecribed by the Motorola representative as similar to the way the human spine works.

In one demonstration, 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 be applied to the device so that when a user wears it, the phone is a fashion accessory.

Lenovo and Motorola often show off protoypes of devices. During MWC, Lenovo revealed a laptop with a see-through screen. Last year, Motorola touted a smartphone with a screen that rolled up.

The bendable display from Motorola appears to build on some of the advances made with foldable screens in recent years. Motorla revived its iconic Razr brand in 2020 as a foldable smartphone.