There’s a fresh patent online, one the Microsoft applied to and it refers to a foldable device. It’s the typical kind of foldable device, a machine that turns from phone to tablet and viceversa. More details are available below.
The patent describes a sort of foldable tablet, that integrates a flexible hinge. We’ve seen Samsung, LG and Apple working on similar formats, albeit the South Koreans are closer to a finalized product. In their patent Microsoft describes a flexible hinge structure, that secures multiple housings to each other. Then they are able to rotate around an axis in relation to each other.
The result is a device that supports a continuous viewing area of the display, extended on the multiple housings and flexible hinge area. The battle this year and the next will be to try and hide the hinge as much as possible, in order not to break the viewing experience with a seam in the middle of the screen. I can’t help but wonder if this will be turned into a Surface product or not.
