Patent suggests future Xiaomi foldable phones may bend in a Z shape

Xiaomi’s design department cannot be faulted for lack of ambition and the recent patent filing is a good example of this. The patent discovered by LetsGoDigitalsuggests that Xiaomi could develop a foldable product that would fold in a Z shape.

As a result, the leaflet in question doesn’t look like the Galaxy Z Fold 2 or the Huawei Mate XS. However, it has some practical aspects. It has stereo speaker grilles and a USB-C port on the lower lip. A fingerprint scanner attached to the side is complemented by a SIM slot and a volume rocker on the phone flank.

For displays, users have a choice of two. The primary display is similar in design to the outer display of the Galaxy Z Fold 2 and has a pinhole camera and call speaker on top.

When opened, users can use a display that is three times the size of normal. In this mode, it would look more like a tablet than a smartphone. Part of this display also forms the back of the phone in the folded mode.

That’s a lot of screen for a phone with a relatively small footprint, but it also has disadvantages. As shown in LetsGoDigitalBecause of the patent drawings, the folded device is by no means slim. The single camera on the front screen means users cannot make video calls on the larger display.

Phones that fold multiple times are not new in theory, and we’ve seen Samsung toys with a similar idea in the past. However, Xiaomi’s new design is different from the company’s other foldable plans that we have seen before, namely a double-fold tablet shown in videos.

Foldable devices have not yet found a stand, but they are enjoying growing popularity. Considering that its advantages did not entirely outweigh the negatives, the debut of such a device from Xiaomi could be a few more years. However, the drive to offer more screen to users could lead more companies to experiment with multiple folds in the future.

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