Samsung Patents Weirdest Phone Yet: A Vertical Rollable
By Jesus Diaz 11 June 2019
The rollable display phone expands from normal candy bar size to extra-elongated format.
Samsung has patented a phone that can vertically extend itself as much as 60% using a rollable display and a motor. I just don't know what's going on anymore, folks.
(Image credit: Lets Go Digital/Samsung)
I mean, I love innovation and all these manufacturers trying new stuff. Foldable phones, sliding phones, pop-up camera phones, flippable camera phones, double-sided phones… this race is pushing the industry forward, which is what has gotten us really cool stuff like fast charging and cameras that can hide behind active displays.
But this Samsung phone design — unearthed by Dutch patent archeologists Let's Go Digital — is something else. I just don't know what the purpose of extending a screen a 60% is.
Of course, it's only a patent. The equivalent of monkeys slinging poop at a wall to see if it sticks. But, on the other hand, it's detailed enough to see that some real work has gone into it.
Samsung isn't the only company trying designs like this. LG's CTO told us in an interview earlier this year that LG is working on a foldable phone, and in April some details of its possible handset leaked in a trademark filing.
While this patent won't necessarily be turned into a phone anytime soon, the technology can be used to make a better rollable format. One that turns a regular phone into a tablet, just like the troubled Galaxy Fold does. But given the current state of technology, a phone like that which is not the thickness of a Game of Thrones book seems like a long way off.
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