In the last few years, foldable phones have gone from a dream to a reality that makes them an attractive option for everyday use — however, they are still limited in many ways. One big limitation of the hardware is that they generally fold only in one direction, collapsing inward to protect the screen when they are carried around in a pocket or bag. A new patent from Samsung shows how the phone giant is planning to tackle this limitation, with an ultrathin devices which folds in two directions.
The Samsung patent was spotted by Atlyginimo Skaiciuokle and @xleaks7, who shared the details of the technology that is currently being worked on. The idea is to create a device with a foldable screen that can either be folded either inward for protection, or outward for better visibility. Instead of the usual 180 degree folding available on current devices, the new model would have a foldable display that could rotate a full 360 degrees, allowing more options for how it is used.
Another important feature of the patent is that is ultra thin, so that even when the device is folded up it isn’t too bulky to use comfortably or to fit into a pocket. The patent specifies the use of ultra-thin glass and flexible polymer substrates to achieve this, along with specific “folding zones” on the display for neat operations.
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Some of the other features of note include the fact that the cameras maintain a full view in any orientation of the folding, and that the screen remains fully visible too. It would use a flexible OLED screen with axes for different folding patterns to reduce the strain put on the hardware and extend the life of the device.
This is still just a patent for now, so it’s not clear if or when Samsung will develop this into a product you can actually buy, but it’s an example of the kinds of innovations we can expect to see in foldable phones in the coming years.
