Motorola foldable phone concept opens up into a tablet
Motorola was awarded a patent for its own folding smartphone. Assuming it plans to make one.
LetsGoDigital colored these images from the Motorola patent.
Foldable smartphones could be the next big thing, and Motorola has at least one design patented and ready to go.
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) approved a Motorola patent (via LetsGoDigital) for a folding phone design. The design includes a long rectangular screen that can be folded for a phone-like experience, or unfolded to work like a tablet. The phone patent shows a flexible display that wraps around a hinge, plus a cover that can protect the display or prop the phone up like a tent. The cover could even provide wireless charging if desired.
The patent was originally filed in September 2016, so the company has been thinking about the concept for years, and may have already moved past this specific idea. Motorola declined to comment when CNET asked about the patent.
Motorola joins a long list of other phone makers (like Samsung, Apple and Huawei) reportedly working on foldable phones. You can read more about them here:
- Samsung mobile CEO: Our foldable phone is no gimmick
- Samsung might not make the 'first-ever' foldable phone
- We're two years away from a foldable iPhone, analysts say
- Everything a foldable iPhone should have
- Microsoft's fancy hinge patent could mean folding phones
- This foldable phone could kick off a crazy bendy phone trend
More pictures from the Motorola patent below:
Motorola's folding phone design opens and closes like this. Patent images modified by LetsGoDigital.