In spite of the fact that the patent shown below is supposed to reveal a hinged foldable tablet, it feels more like an expandable Surface Phone of sorts. This Microsoft patent reveals a hinged foldable machine with carefully detailed elements.
It’s becoming pretty clear that such a machine is in development, considering how many hinged Microsoft devices we’ve seen leaked lately. Knowing that Samsung is also working on similar products gives us an idea of what the general trend will be for slates in the future. All these new documents seem really focused on the hinge mechanism, its assembly and flexibility.
We’ll see 3 configs here: zero degrees closed, 180 degrees flat open and 360 degrees fully open. When at 180 degrees, the inside displays will show a single UI, while in other configurations, the device will be capable of showing separate interfaces on each screen bit. Magnets and clever hinges are being used to hold the device together and it all feels pretty seamless when it’s flat.
As I said before, this feels more like a smartphone that unfolds into a tablet, rather than a regular slate. The inventor listed here is Kabir Siddiqui, who also got a patent for the Surface Kickstand a while back.. Could this be the rumored Microsoft Surface phone and tablet based on Snapdragon 835?
