- Samsung has filed a patent for a double-fold device with a sliding keyboard.
- The design may resemble a smartphone, tablet or laptop in the various folded modes.
According to a design patent filed by Samsung, the company is looking to add more folds and keyboards to its future mobile devices. Per LetsGoDigitalThe Samsung display patent, filed in Korea in 2018, has now emerged and shows the company’s vision of a future folding phone.
However, the device would not necessarily be a smartphone. As with the Galaxy Z Fold 2, sketches suggest it can be folded into a device with a screen, but the two folds would likely expand that display size well into the tablet’s territory. The double flip system can also allow part of the screen to be supported like a mini laptop.
While we’ve seen Samsung double-fold designs before, this example also features a sliding keyboard. Patent sketches suggest it doesn’t resemble a BlackBerry-like hardware tapper, but uses touch buttons instead. This likely allows for a sleeker design.
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Finally, there is a single selfie camera on the right flank of the device, which is the top bezel in tablet mode. It is unclear what the rear camera array contains as there are no sketches of the device’s back plate. LetsGoDigital imagined the display and keyboard of the device in the following illustrations.
Supposedly it’s a strange, awkward design. Although it has laptop-like features, users should be better served with a fully tactile keyboard and display that can stand on its own. You know things that an actual combination of laptop, tablet and keyboard offers.
Even though LetsGoDigital When we refer to this device as the Galaxy Z Fold 3, we doubt this is more than a proof of concept than anything else. Samsung likely has plans to bolster its foldable lines, but adding another crease to its current device designs would be a risk.