Samsung patent for foldable phone surfaces

Global SourcesUpdated on 2023/12/01

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The patent shows a phone that can fold shut like a laptop.

Images in Samsung’s patent show a phone with a hinge that looks similar to what the Microsoft Surface Book uses (Source: Korea Intellectual Property Rights Information Service)

It has been known for a while that Samsung wanted to make a foldable smartphone. Details of how such a phone might work have emerged recently thanks to a patent filing found by the Dutch website Galaxy Club and later reported by Android Police.

As earlier rumors indicated, this kind of phone would use a flexible OLED screen rather than two separate screens. This would result in a gap at the hinge when the phone is folded shut. Renders of the possible folding phone look similar to the Microsoft Surface Book’s hinge, which also leaves a slight gap between the screen and base at the hinge.

Since this is just a patent filing, the concept of the folding phone remains just that for now. There is no news about what the specifications of such a phone might look like.

Samsung previously teased the folding OLED display idea in 2013 by making an ad for a concept phone that could unfold into a tablet. The so-called Youm flexible displays have yet to turn up in any products, but there is no denying that the concept is appealing. The patent filing is a good sign that Samsung has not given up the folding phone concept, which China competitors such as Lenovo are also trying to develop.

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Samsung patent for foldable phone surfaces

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