The issues with the Samsung Galaxy Fold are well-documented, but perhaps the hinged form factor isn't what the future holds for expanding screen smartphones - maybe we'll get something like the Samsung Galaxy Roll (a name we've coined) instead.
That's based on a new patent filing which has been made publicly available, which details a Samsung device with what appears to be a vertically scrolling display which can slide in and out of the handset's body.
Samsung filed the patent on November 28, 2018 (so before the Galaxy Fold troubles), but it has only now been published online.
- We've been hands on with the Galaxy Fold
- All the foldable phones we know about so far
- There are a host of new 5G phones arriving in 2019
The patent states that it is for "an electronic device comprising a flexible display having an expandable display area is disclosed" and describes the screen as "a flexible display mounted in the slider such that at least a part thereof is exposed, and disposed to allow a display area to be expanded according to the withdrawal of the slider and allow the expanded display area to be concealed in the housing according to the entrance of the slider."
Got that? Well here are some images from the filing which should make things clearer.
Nicknamed 'The Wedge'?
The device pictured in the drawings shows a vertically extended handset with a flexible display on rollers, allowing you to significantly increase the size of the screen.
Unlike the Galaxy Fold though - which opens up for a traditional tablet-style display - the aspect ratio on this patent may see a squat display pull out to an aspect ratio which more closely follows the cinematic 21:9 aesthetic employed by the Sony Xperia 1.
However, the shape of the handset may be a little odd due to the mechanism it would need to house, with the images showing a wedge-shaped device. We're not sure how that would look in real life, nor how it would sit in the hand or slide into a pocket.
That said, this is merely a patent filing and many of these ideas never come to market, but it's worth keeping an eye on, as foldable phones aren't disappearing anytime soon.
Via LetsGoDigital
