Samsung Wants To Bring Back the Flip Phone With Bendable Screens

redletterdave writes: A new patent filed last April but published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office earlier this month suggests Samsung might be working on a smartphone that can bend in half like a flip phone. The biggest problem, according to the patent, is all the strain that accumulates by continually folding the display, or keeping the display folded for a long period of time, which can result in deformations and imperfections, Samsung notes. But Samsung's patent also describes how the phone could keep track of how long it's been in the folded and unfolded states, so as to alert the user of any strain that needs to be relieved. This could help extend the lifetime of the phone and its display.

Comments

A solution in search of a problem

[the grace of R'hllor]

A problem we've solved already. Just use a hinge and two screens. Use code to stitch them into a logical entity. Bezels can be small, on one side.

I have a feeling it's just patent-troll-defense.

"This could help extend the lifetime of the phone"

[Kinwolf]

You mean Samsung would know when to tell the phone "not" to open as per their planned obsolescence policy.