Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Samsung's Latest Patent Is a Foldable Phone (theverge.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the twist-and-bend dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: A recent patent application (PDF) shows that Samsung has ambitious ideas for future phone-design experimentation, although the South Korean manufacturer may have second thoughts about bendy phones after recent battery explosions and recalls. In April, Samsung was reported to have filed a patent with the Korean Intellectual Property Office for a foldable smartphone. The application was picked up by Dutch website Galaxy Club. The document shows a narrow Samsung device with a screen that bends and folds like an old-school flip phone handset. The device is described as something that can be "folded or unfolded semi automatically." The patent also referred to a "secondary" display, which is supposed to activate when you fold the device, according to International Business Times UK.

31 comments

  1. Great, foldable explosives by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Need i say more? :)

  2. South Korea? by 110010001000 · · Score: 0

    Trump will make sure that this phone will be made in America. All you trailer trash get ready for some new jerbs!

  3. Linux ? Explosion ? by stooo · · Score: 1

    Does it run Linux ?
    Does it explode ?
    (both are not related)

    --
    aaaaaaa
  4. I'll get the popcorn by namgge · · Score: 4, Informative

    Apple's already got at least one patent for a folding phone:

    http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/this-...

    Looks like they're gonna have another fight...

    1. Re:I'll get the popcorn by MouseR · · Score: 1

      You'll want to go back to the Knowledge Navigator for first Apple examples of bendy screens.

    2. Re:I'll get the popcorn by MouseR · · Score: 1

      **featuring Bill Bye

    3. Re:I'll get the popcorn by GuB-42 · · Score: 1

      The iPhone 6 is foldable, once.

    4. Re:I'll get the popcorn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Apple's already got at least one patent for a folding phone

      Apples way behind the curve, they are just building smoke to confuse non-techie judges/juries. Samsung and LG have both had folding screen prototypes for at least two years, and both have plenty of folding-phone and foldable-screen patents of their own. Samsung was supposed to have had a folding phone for sale at the beginning of 2016, but it got pushed out a year.

    5. Re:I'll get the popcorn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Doesn't matter, they fold a different way. Apple can't hold the patent on -any- folding phone. Folding phones were around a long time before apple came on the scene. All you need is a different mechanism than they're doing and you can be sure samsung did their homework. Nothing to see here, move along.

    6. Re:I'll get the popcorn by stooo · · Score: 1

      >>Apples way behind the curve, they are just building smoke
      Samsung, on the other side builds smoke machines :)

      --
      aaaaaaa
  5. Dildo by bigbang137 · · Score: 0

    It folds, but does it also twist into a dildo?

  6. Flip phones are back?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Aren't flip phones already patented by someone?

  7. Exploding phone-airplanes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You know, when you fold it up like a paper airplane.

  8. Is the bend to direct flames away from the face? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Because that might be a hot selling point going into 2017/2018.

  9. Does it come with a foldable fire extinguisher? by melted · · Score: 1

    The question is, does it come with a foldable fire extinguisher?

  10. Ummmm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Havent we already had flip phones for quit a few years now? And the iPhone 6 folds already, though after you fold it, it usually don't work any more...

  11. I have an idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Do you fear the future of America? Are you in your early 40's with good credit and no criminal history? I propose a trade, we will swap identities and you will be Canadian, while I will move somewhere warm since I'm tired of freezing. We will assume each others lives. What do you say?

  12. Fire, Corholio? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Will it automatically unfold when it bursts into flame?

  13. Re:TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP by LifesABeach · · Score: 1

    I would hope that both are non flammable.

  14. Ass rape by bigbang137 · · Score: 1

    That's because whenever I have purchased a Samsung phone, I have been f'ed in the azz. With Note 3, the screen died. With Note 4, the reception died. Clearly I must've been holding it wrong. With Note 7, don't ask.

    1. Re: Ass rape by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Regarding the note 3, I suppose you can clean the area around the proximity sensor. I have to do that every week in order to have a functional screen.

      This requires a small screwdriver and some patience of course, but you get used to it.

    2. Re:Ass rape by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You suck as a phone owner. I have all my samsung phones, no problems since galaxy 2, and I have a note 3, 4, 5 . My 5 is still fine for a phone so I'll hang onto it until the "note 8" comes out, but I suspect they'll give it a new name.

  15. ITS NOT A PATENT by hashish16 · · Score: 1

    ITS IS A PATENT APPLICATION. GET IT FUCKING RIGHT SLASHDOT. I'm so sick of these stupid journalist who think an application and a patent are the same thing.

  16. This project is so hot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...that the patent itself caught fire, without need of help from a battery!

  17. Samsungs new device is hand grenades by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    the ROK army has been so impressed, samsung has been contracted to make hand grenades.

  18. Flip phone by jasonbrown · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Folding phone = Flip Phone? Right?

    --

    "Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press"
    1. Re:Flip phone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      More like a Zippo?

  19. e mail marketing by Disparo · · Score: 0

    e mail marketing Turbine suas vendas com e-mail marketing e potencialize suas oportunidades de negócio!

  20. Congratulations Samsung. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You just invented the clamshell phone!

  21. QWERTY by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Unless it has a qwerty keyboard using real buttons it isn't worth it.