LG will reportedly unveil a 55-inch ‘rollable TV’ prototype in 2016

Never mind the 111-inch double-sided TV that LG showed off at IFA earlier this month; that’s so 2015.

A rollable TV, though — now that’s something I could see fitting in nicely to my pimped-out IoT living room of 2016.

Maybe I’ll unroll this rollable TV in bed each morning, and have a drone fly over the coffee that my smart, connected coffee machine poured ahead of time — after it was pinged by my Apple Watch that I was about to wake up.

Obviously.

In any case, if a report by The Korea Times Monday is to be believed, a “rollable TV” is exactly what South Korean electronics giant LG is planning for the latest addition to its obviously not-yet-quirky-enough TV line.

“LG Electronics is working on developing a 55-inch rollable TV, which will be introduced at the International Consumer Electronics Show (ICES) in January 2016,” the newspaper quoted an anonymous LG official in charge of its technology research center as saying.

“LG’s move to exhibit a prototype of a rollable TV has huge meaning in the global technology industry amid the industry’s gradual shift toward flexible OLED technology,” a second anonymous official was quoted as saying.

LG released a 2-sided TV. Because why the hell not? http://t.co/SakwyNKOUa pic.twitter.com/K8HtmXbh1P

— Jay Yarow (@jyarow) September 14, 2015

“The launch of the 55-inch rollable TV represents LG’s readiness to lead over rivals in the heated race for applications with large-sized flexible OLED panels, which are more profitable than devices using small OLED displays,” the second official added.

However, the sources acknowledged that there are still “a lot of technological barriers” to creating and launching a rollable TV for mainstream consumers.

It’s worth pointing out that this isn’t the first time we’re hearing of rollable TVs from LG. Last year, the company said that it was confident of producing a 60-inch rollable TV by 2017.

While it may not be on track to hit the 2017 goal — The Korea Times cites its sources as saying the technology is still as many as four or five years away — the idea certainly no longer seems like some wacky sci-fi pipe dream.

The newspaper goes on to describe the product in these terms:

Unlike existing curved televisions, its rollable TV could create an easy-to-carry tube that could be carried as easily as a briefcase, and be installed wherever customers want to watch programs.

Curved batteries will also have to be used, the report said. Fortunately, LG has its own electric battery unit, LG Chem.

There’s no word yet on what the displays could end up costing, but expect the newly announced iPad Pro with keyboard and Pencil combination to suddenly start feeling awfully cheap.

LG declined to comment.