An LG patent filed to the World Intellectual Property Organization shows a potential folding hybrid tablet and phone device, as spotted by GSMinfo. The patent describes the device as a “mobile phone with a flexible display which can be folded in half.” It was initially filed in July 2017 before being published on January 12th, 2018. The design patent shows two versions of the potential phone.
The first model is a foldable phone that features a camera component on the back panel. When folded, the device can display information like the time on the front screen:
The second design is similar, except when the phone is folded, its rear cover is pushed to one side revealing a transparent section on the front right-hand side. That sidebar section could be used to display the time and notifications, for example. The rear of the device also has a camera module.
It’s important to note that the solid lines in the illustration are its claimed features, while the broken lines illustrate what the rest of the device might look like. The dotted lines in any design patent are not covered by the patent. There’s also no indication of if and when LG might release a device like this. Foldable phones seem to be the holy grail for smartphone manufacturers, and though many patents have been filed, there haven’t been any notable releases so far. Samsung has previously indicated it wants to release a bendable Galaxy Note this year, but noted there are still “hurdles to overcome.”
Comments
Man, LG must hate ZTE right now.
By Zererico on 01.19.18 7:17am
Why? ZTEs is nothing like this – it has conventional screens.
By Dr Strange on 01.19.18 8:20am
By your logic, ZTE must hate Sony from 6 years ago
By Dr Strange on 01.19.18 8:23am
Thisi what I want!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oK9meUPI0w
By Dr Strange on 01.19.18 8:19am
Yes! I remember putting "Don’t Panic" as the screensaver image for my Nook ages ago
By Knappsterbot on 01.19.18 11:36am
ZTE, Microsoft, Samsung, and now LG. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Google do this in a year or two as well.
By Demitryus on 01.19.18 9:23am
And Apple
By Dr Strange on 01.19.18 10:32am
Then it will be two screens on a single device for the first time in iPhone Gemini
By Rahul24248 on 01.19.18 12:31pm
No, still just one screen.
By Dr Strange on 01.19.18 1:52pm
Unless you went the screen to be plastic, then it’s impossible. Also you need a gap to make it work, singe you can’t fold a screen like a piece of paper.
By Daniel Su on 01.21.18 3:59pm
Apple is waiting for everyone to do it, so they can come out with a similar product and claim they "invented it". "Revolutionary, yet again" xD
And of course, it will cost 30% more than everyone else’s product, have white plastic peripherals, rounded edges aluminium body and only work with Apple devices.
By Dolanator on 01.19.18 4:02pm
Yeah, sure.
By Dr Strange on 01.19.18 5:05pm
and will sell a lot more than all other manufacturer’s combined.
By NoPokyMe on 01.21.18 1:34am
This will get broken or scratched in no time: good luck fitting a "case" to this.
By jocedeg on 01.19.18 9:53am
they seemed to fit a case on the ZTE double-screen phone. Who knows, maybe they’ll figure something out.
By vonbaronhans on 01.19.18 11:02am
‘phone’
This looks like it has a 25:9 aspect ratio.
By Doge Man on 01.19.18 9:58am
How is this patentable? Just curious, since it seems blindingly obvious.
By lusional on 01.19.18 11:46am
Yeah, also eerily similar concepts exist
By Rahul24248 on 01.19.18 12:30pm
You haven’t mentioned anything about the picture on top
By Rahul24248 on 01.19.18 12:34pm
How do they issue patents for this when these similar setups have already been issued patent with?
By bhargavbuddy on 01.19.18 12:39pm
Link one?
By Dr Strange on 01.19.18 1:53pm
i believe you can patent the mechanism for folding?
if you look at the MS "surface folding phone" it is in part patenting the hinge technology for the folding mechanic.
By NoPokyMe on 01.19.18 2:49pm
Everyone wants a bendable phone, but don’t realize that to have one the screen will have to be plastic, maybe something similar to those HTC pocket-pc resistive-screen smartphones from the early 2000s. No matter how much you took care of the screen, it always ended up with tons of scratches. Plus the feel always felt cheap, when compared to glass. And that’s not even mentioning how bad is to write with a stylus on a plastic screen.
By Daniel Luna on 01.20.18 1:57am
All valid points. Which is why the recent Surface Phone renders are the best way:
By Doge Man on 01.20.18 9:41am
By MARK-MY-WORDS on 01.20.18 12:22pm