Every week or so we get to see new patents related to foldable phones, either from Samsung or LG. They’ve come up more often than ever it seems and today we’ve uncovered a new set of LG patents having to do with a handset that expands to triple its size.
The patents come from USA and have to do with this folding smartphone, which LG has been working on a while now. That firm and Samsung have been battling it out behind the scenes, trying to make the first viable handset that turns into a tablet. While Samsung has been all about the models that fold out, LG preferred the ones that fold in. Of course, these are all USPTO material and there’s no guarantee they’ll see the light of day as real products.
With much less fanfare, the likes of Lenovo and probably more companies are working on similar products. So far Lenovo has been the closest, with a device that folds around the wrist and becomes both a tablet and a phone. The consumer reaction to the first prototypes will make LG and Samsung decide which way to pursue in the future, or if there’s any reason to pursue foldables at all. The visibility of the hinges and the thickness of the unit will be the key here.
Turning phones into tablets, in a viable way may put one more nail into the tablets’ coffin, by the way.
