I tried the future of phones – Motorola's wearable concept surprises and delights

TechPhonesAndroid PhonesI tried the future of phones – Motorola’s wearable concept surprises and delightsThe Motorola Adaptive Display is a folding phone you can wear on your wrist – but would you ever actually want to?When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

The Motorola Adaptive Display is a folding phone you can wear on your wrist – but would you ever actually want to?

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

(Image credit: Motorola)

Motorola Adaptive Display

(Image credit: Motorola)

Tucked away in a secret hotel meeting room away from the main Mobile World Congress show, which takes place in late February each year in Barcelona, I got to experience Motorola’s forthcoming innovations – and the standout product was the foldable-phone-meets-wearable concept called the Motorola Adaptive Display. Could this be a glimpse at the future ofthe best phones?

First announced back in October of last year, the Adaptive Display isn’t precisely anMWC 2024reveal, then, but it’s the first time that I – and a small handful of other invitees – were able to get a behind-closed-doors full hands-on touch-and-try session with the concept, which explores the future of phones and how we might interact with these integral tech devices every day.

In its flat position, the Adaptive Display – and I do wish Motorola had awarded this concept with a cooler name, quite honestly – looks pretty much like a regular phone. The back is a material finish, however, so that tactile difference is the first clue that this is a whole other kind of phone. Flexing it is easy: I was able to bend it through various stages into its maximum of a C shape with no fear of breaking the device.

Image1of4(Image credit: Motorola)(Image credit: Motorola)(Image credit: Motorola)(Image credit: Motorola)

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(Image credit: Motorola)(Image credit: Motorola)(Image credit: Motorola)(Image credit: Motorola)

(Image credit: Motorola)

Motorola Adaptive Display

(Image credit: Motorola)

Motorola Adaptive Display

(Image credit: Motorola)

Motorola Adaptive Display

(Image credit: Motorola)

Motorola Adaptive Display

Because the Adaptive Display doesn’t angle through a single hinge, as perthe best folding phones, whether folding it only partially – for on-desk self-support mode, as shown in the above gallery of images – or folding it to the maximum, it means the battery unit within is actually divided into many multiples. That’s why the rear has that ridged appearance, with lots of battery strips connected together to allow for a fluid and convincing fold.

Why would you want to fold it into a full C shape though? This is where the Adaptive Display reveals its most interesting aspect: you can wear a little wrist bracelet and then magnetically attach the phone to your wrist, in a wrap-around form, and it becomes half phone, half wearable. It’s nothing like a smartwatch, of course, and I found it rather bulky to wear – but with the screen smart enough to understand its positioning, it then automatically only permits an aspect of the display to be used.

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(Image credit: Future / Emily Pursel / Mike Lowe)(Image credit: Future / Emily Pursel / Mike Lowe)(Image credit: Future / Emily Pursel / Mike Lowe)(Image credit: Future / Emily Pursel / Mike Lowe)(Image credit: Future / Emily Pursel / Mike Lowe)(Image credit: Future / Emily Pursel / Mike Lowe)(Image credit: Future / Emily Pursel / Mike Lowe)