Paul Briden 17/01/2017 - 11:52am

Possible Samsung Galaxy X Folding Design Pictured In Patent

A newly surfaced Samsung patent shows a folding display device which transforms from a smartphone into a tablet, and may just give some indication of how one or more of the rumoured Samsung Galaxy X devices will look and operate.

The patent, picked up by Patently Mobile, appears to show a regular 5in sized smartphone which can fold-out into a 7in tablet. According to previous reports, Samsung switched its R&D from "fold-in" devices to "fold-out" around August 2016; allegedly fold-in, the kind which would have allowed for a clam-shell style design, was considered impractical for the modern smartphone market, as users would be forced to unfold their device each time they wanted to check a notification.

This means the original rumours of a Samsung Galaxy X, which emphasised a fold-in clamshell, likely no longer apply, and we will be looking at various fold-out designs when the handsets hit the market. Recent rumours have suggested the second half of 2017 but it remains in abeyance.

From the patent, which may or may not represent the final commercial design, we can see an extremely thin device which when folded appears like two ultra-thin phones back-to-back, but with a continuous display running around one edge; this is the 5in phone form factor. The design includes a home key under the front display section.

When unfolded along the continuous display edge, the rear display comes into line with the front display as both are one single display that just wraps around.