Samsung Exploring the Microsoft Surface Phone of Our Dreams

[The AchieVer]

Samsung Exploring the Microsoft Surface Phone of Our Dreams

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   Samsung's foldable phone concept

While Microsoft doesn’t seem very keen on bringing its foldable device to the market, others are more interested in such an idea, including the world’s leading smartphone manufacturer Samsung.

A patent discovered recently by LetsGoDigital shows that the South Korean firm has already looked into such an idea, yet Samsung is apparently trying to do things a little bit different from Microsoft.

While the software giant wants to use a hinge to link together two different foldable displays, Samsung believes it’s a much better solution to rely on magnets. This way, the company can create a foldable phone that uses two screens which can work both separately and as a whole for bigger screen estate.

The magnets allow for several positions, so the two displays can also be placed back to back to have a screen on each side of the phone. However, it’s important to note that each screen would be able to operate independently, as they would have their own processor and storage.

The bezel challenge

Also, when fully open and connected to each other, the two displays would technically power a tablet with a bigger screen and touch input. However, given their bezels there won’t just be a single screen from one edge to another, but Samsung plans to make the UI expand on the secondary display in a seamless manner.

Samsung has also envisioned other form factors based on this approach, including sliding screens that would allow for other uses, including typing in a conversation-based UI.

Without a doubt, this idea would be truly innovative, but given it’s still a patent, it could take years until it comes to fruition. The biggest challenge is to deal with the bezels that would interrupt the available screen estate, so once the display technology becomes advanced enough to eliminate bezels entirely, this concept can be done too.

In the meantime, foldable devices are projected to launch later this year, and Samsung itself would bring its very own model to the market too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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