Samsung's new foldable phone patent looks completely insane
Samsung's next flagship phone might actually fit in your pocket.
The Korean electronics conglomerate recently submitted sketches of a foldable smartphone, rumored to be called the Samsung Galaxy X, to the Korean Intellectual Property Office.
The sketches were spotted by LetsGoDigital, which has been dredging up additional documentation for the mysterious device including a trademark application, and a license from Korea's National Radio Research Agency, for the past few months.
The sketches indicate that the phone will fold inward, like the infamous flip phones of years past. Unlike its flipping predecessors, however, the Galaxy X won't feature a keyboard. Instead, you'll get two displays, which would allow you to access multiple apps at a time, or could be combined together to make a larger screen.
Samsung has been rumored to be at work on the Galaxy X since January of this year. The release of these sketches could indicate that the phone is coming sooner than we expected, but don't hold your breath: The projected release date as of last month was 2019.
We can't, of course, confirm anything about the specs of the phone -- the sketches show designs that Samsung is considering, but not necessarily those it is committed to using. But the pictures at least reassure us that the company has the ball rolling on practical designs, and that the Galaxy X may not face some of the pitfalls that plague dual-display competitors like the ZTE's Axon M.
Monica wrote for Mashable's Tech section with a focus on retail, internet of things, and the intersections of technology and social justice. She holds a degree in creative writing from Brown University, and has previously written for Dow Jones Media, the New York Post, Yahoo Finance, and others. In her free time, she can be found attempting to cook Asian food, buying board games, and looking for new hobbies.
