Samsung seems to be betting on a foldable smartphone future. The South Korean company has apparently decided to increase its range of foldable smartphones to offer a wider range of price.
Samsung was one of the first companies to introduce modern full-screen foldable smartphones. Currently the foldable range of smartphones from the company is rather limited to only a few units.
Samsung future plans for foldable smartphones
According to a report by The Elec, Samsung reported that the sale of its foldable smartphones is only a small fraction of its smartphone sales. But the company expects it to grow.
Besides this the company also admitted that it expects its revenue for the fourth quarter of 2020 to drop. This is apparently because of intense competition during the year end sales. Another reason is that the company has earned the highest operating profit in two years and saw the highest ever sales in a quarter.
Besides this, future foldable devices from the company were recently leaked in reports. According to a patent document that was spotted by a Dutch publication Lets Go Digital, Samsung is working on a smartphone that has outward folding displays similar to what we’ve seen on Huawei Mate Xs or Xiaomi Mi Mix Alpha. The patent document suggests that the design is somewhat similar to Mi Mix Alpha as it has two displays that fold outwards.
Though the patent was first filed in 2018, it was published by the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) on October 6. It details that only a small section of the device’s display is visible to the user when it is folded, however, when unfolded, it adds over 85% additional real estate.
The thing to notice in the document are the bare essentials since the patent was filed by Samsung Display rather than Samsung Electronics. However, features like an in-display selfie camera, USB Type-C for connectivity and charging, a headphone jack, volume rocker, power button, sim tray and stereo speakers can be spotted easily.
This blueprint also teased that the smartphone would feature an unusual hinge mechanism. Unlike regular hinge, the one shown in the patent may come with dual retraction facility. It will let the users fold a section of the display further outwards and it can be used as a keyboard while the rest of the display can be vertically placed as a tall display, thanks to a built-in kickstand.