Microsoft patent gives clues to a foldable Surface phone

Samsung might be ready to launch its own folding phone this year, but it is hardly the only one working toward that goal. Competitors from China like Lenovo are trying to make their own smartphones with bendable screens, and now a Microsoft patent has emerged showing the company wants a folding handset of its own. The patent was unearthed by MSPoweruser, although it was published last April.

Microsoft's patent is not too different from what other companies appear to be working on. Microsoft envisions a smartphone with a hinge in the middle and a flexible display that extends across it. There could even be a third portion of the device with a completely separate screen. The patent images show a phone set up as a tent with three distinct parts. It also refers to a "secondary display" that could use a different technology from the main display, like a low-powered "E Ink" display.

Technology companies are known for having countless patents that are never implemented in a marketable product. However, this patent is notable for a few reasons. The first is that it is just the latest example of the push to develop a foldable smartphone, which is something people might get a glimpse of for the first time this year from Samsung and LG. There is also the matter of the inventor, Kabir Siddiqui, who also patented the Surface kickstand and Surface camera, as the Verge noted noted. Finally, this is a smartphone patent that was published after Microsoft wrote down most of its Nokia acquisition and its smartphone ambitions were thought to be quashed.

Microsoft never said it was done with smartphones. Rumors about a Surface phone have been heating up, especially after Microsoft showed win32 programs running through an emulator on an ARM processor. A folding handset would be a great form factor for a Surface phone, too. A bottom screen could pull up a QWERTY keyboard for people to type on. The concept now has precedence with the Lenovo Yoga Book, although the keyboard inthat case was just a Wacom tab instead of a full display.