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Nokia Morph Concept (long)

Alexander Budde
Demos
YouTube
3 HN users recommended this demo3 months2011–2025 score 3.5
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

HN brings it up as a nostalgic, exciting concept in threads on foldable phones and design, and sometimes as an example of concept videos that never shipped.

A concept video from Nokia Research Center and Cambridge Nanoscience Center showing Morph, a flexible, self-cleaning, shape-changing phone imagined through nanotechnology.

“I have just watched the video about it [2] again and I am still as excited about it as I was 11 years ago.” (HN, 2019)

1 strong recommendations · 2 recommendations · 1 citations · 2 critical · Demos · partly dated

6 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@arzeth Feb 2019 Strongly recommends
on HN thread Samsung’s Foldable Phone Is the $1,980 Galaxy Fold
Read more
These Samsung's and Xiaomi's foldable phones don't excite me as much as Nokia Morph. On 2008-02-25, Nokia showed a concept phone Nokia Morph [1]. I have just watched the video about it [2] again and I am still as excited about it as I was 11 years ago. > The phone's theoretical feature list would include the ability to bend into numerous shapes, so it can be worn around the wrist or held up to the face; transparent electronics, which would allow the device to be see-through yet functional; self-cleaning surfaces that can absorb solar energy to recharge the phone's battery; and a wide range of fully integrated sensors. [...] The manufacturer believed that some of the device's imagined features could appear in high-end devices by 2015. So, I am waiting for something like Nokia Morph but also with a screen that can take the form of a standard physical keyboard and give me the same tactile feel. [1] [link] [2] [this video]
Nokia's 2008 Morph concept remains exciting to commenter after 11 years.
@v-yadli Jan 2025 Recommends
on HN thread Nokia Design Archive
Anyone remember the Morph concept? [link] [this video] Blew me away back then, but forgot the name. This archive helped to recover the bits in my head. Thank you!
Nostalgic concept that blew the commenter away.

Citations, criticism and jokes

@no1youknowz Apr 2021 Cites it
on HN thread iPad Pro M1
Read more
Anyone remember the Ubuntu Edge? [0] Perhaps with todays announcement, a bit into the future we will see a new class of phone that unfolds into a tablet and even docks to a screen with accompanying magic keyboard and trackpad. I know, it's a real shame that I am probably dreaming. But Apple will probably never release a similar phone as it'll cannibalise one of the other products. Maybe someone can prod shuttleworth again and see if the time for this idea can be realised? I'm sure soon it will be. I also hope that this trend of arm minimization can continue so an idea like morph [1] will one day be come also. [0] - [link] [1] - [this video]
@meindnoch Jan 2023 Pushes back
on HN thread BMW I Vision Dee
This BMW “study” reminds me of the equally laughable Nokia Morph concept from 2008: [this video] [link] Based on this I would say that such “studies” are the sign of a company soon going bust.

Video list and Hacker News comment labels from HackerTube (prompted by @karpathy), released under ODC-By 1.0, built on the open-index/hacker-news archive. Hacker News data is provided by Y Combinator; comments remain the work of their authors. Video titles, channel names and thumbnails belong to their creators and are shown via YouTube. HackerTube Watch is an unofficial edition. Data export of 2026-10-31.

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