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Samsung granted foldable gaming phone design patent

What's better than a foldable phone? Probably one with physical gaming controls.

Lori Grunin Senior Editor / Advice
I've been reviewing hardware and software, devising testing methodology and handed out buying advice for what seems like forever; I'm currently absorbed by computers and gaming hardware, but previously spent many years concentrating on cameras. I've also volunteered with a cat rescue for over 15 years doing adoptions, designing marketing materials, managing volunteers and, of course, photographing cats.
Expertise Photography, PCs and laptops, gaming and gaming accessories
Lori Grunin
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Samsung

Samsung's Galaxy X foldable phone is still on the horizon, but a design patent granted to Samsung this week (applied for in 2017) shows the company taking it a step further and adding what looks like a flip-out section with buttons on one side and a D-pad on the other.

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Samsung

The idea merges two of the hottest development in mobile devices, foldable phones and gaming phones like the Razer Phone or the Asus ROG Phone. And the two go hand in hand -- gaming is always better on a bigger screen, and foldable screens let you cram a bigger display into a smaller footprint.

You can see a copy of the patent (PDF) with all the images, but LetsGoDigital did the world a favor and created 3D renders of what the device could look like based on those sketches.

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Renders based on the sketches in the design patent.

LetsGoDigital

Of course, final devices don't always look like their original concepts, nor do they always appear on the market, so who knows if this will be ready for your Fortnite battles anytime soon.

Samsung didn't immediately reply to a request for comment.