Sharp is making a rollable 4K OLED TV with a difference

There’s a new rollable TV on the market to rival the LG Signature Series OLED R. Manufacturer Sharp was hoping for a 2019 release, but 2020 now seems more likely.
Developing the set in cooperation with Japan’s national broadcaster NHK, Sharp has come up with a 30-inch rollable OLED screen which it hopes will take on LG’s entry into the genre (via OLED-info).
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The most striking difference between the two rollable sets it that Sharp’s is less than half the size of the LG TV. In some ways this makes sense, as it’s more likely to fit into homes for whom the space saving nature of a rollable screen is actually a benefit.
There’s no doubting the novelty appeal of a roll-away TV set, but the technology comes at a hefty price. Sharp tends to offer value pricing, but buyers should still expect to have to pay more for, ahem, rollability.
We were amazed when we looked over the LG Signature Series OLED R rollable TV.
As we wrote in our review: “In performance terms, the OLED panel technology even seems to be the same generation as LG’s brand new 2019 models. And it’s driven by LG’s latest second-generation Alpha 9 chipset and webOS smart platform. In other words, despite the undoubtedly extended development time that the rollable TV must have had to go through, it still sports the most up to date performance and feature specifications.
“It’s easy to be cynical about LG’s rollable OLED TV. It’s certainly one of those products that far more people will ogle from afar than actually buy … However, there’s no doubt that seeing it in the flesh leaves you marvelling at the sheer technical accomplishment involved in its creation.”
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If Sharp can get somewhere near this level of picture and build quality we will have a very interesting new television on our hands. There’s no release date yet though, so watch this space for more news on Sharp’s rollable TV.