Smartphones that bend seem to be the newest craze for the manufacturers to follow and LG might be the newest entrant to that group. That should also explain a recent patent filing that the South Korean company made that clearly depicts a mobile device that bends at the middle along its length.
Details, of course, aren’t aplenty at the moment though what is known is that the design description shows a hinge that again is similar in its form and function to that of the Microsoft Surface Book. However, given that the Surface Book does not sit flush on the keyboard, what remains to be seen is whether the LG phone too exhibits a gap between the two display portions after it is folded along the middle.
The patent design also depicts a true bezel-less display which interestingly is the other design fad that has got the entire smartphone industry within its grip at the moment. The other features that the proposed phone is seen coming with include dual everything – from mics and loudspeakers to antennas and of course the camera.
The device will have one camera placed outside and in such a manner that it still is able to shoot images even when the device is in a folded state. While that will be a nice feature to have, it remains to be seen how the user is able to view the images while it is being shot. The display meanwhile will remain shut when it is folded but will turn on automatically when deployed.
More details are yet a mystery at the moment, which includes the expected timeframe for anything of this sort to reach markets. The patent was filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office during end-2017 though that should hardly be a conclusive evidence of the device indeed becoming a reality anytime soon. Not all patent designs evolve into real products, and bendable smartphones do seem particularly tricky at the moment.
LG to fit 5 cameras in the LG V40 just like Gillette did in Fusion Razor
That said, LG isn’t alone in the race to come up with a foldable smartphone. Others in the fray include Samsung, Motorola, and Huawei, all of whom are pursuing their own agenda so far as a bendable phone is concerned. Of these, Samsung seems to be at the most advanced stages, has already shown off a working prototype at the CES early this year. Codenamed Galaxy Y, Samsung is also expected to launch the phone sometime later this year though it would be limited to the South Korean market.
It would be interesting to so how the others match up.
