Samsung patented a foldable smartphone with a spring-based hinge mechanism, check it out

Yesterday, we reported that Samsung may be planning to launch an unique, foldable smartphone in 2016. Such a device is definitely being worked on, judging by the leaked patent schematics that describe different ways in which Samsung experimented pulling off this type of novelty. Speaking of which, today Patently Mobile uncovered a purported schematic for a foldable smartphone that opens and closes together with a hinge mechanism.

This is no flip-phone, however, as there is a mesh-type textile sheet attached as the cover of an actual bending AMOLED display. The device is separated in two "bodies", connected via hinge portion. The hinge operates with a spring mechanism that looks incredibly old-school for a device that's supposed to be this hi-tech.

Samsung filed this patent application in the third quarter of 2014, which means this isn't a particularly recent development and could have advanced into a state where mass-manufacturing could be in consideration. That is, assuming Samsung actually kept working on it, rather than killing it to concentrate on the gazillion other projects it's running in-house. Still, the schematic does look very similar to the concept device Samsung had previously shown. It can be seen in the second slide.

Reportedly, a foldable Samsung smartphone, whatever its shape and form might be, is being tested with a configuration that includes a Snapdragon 620 or 820 SoC, 3GB of RAM, and a microSD card slot. It's supposed to be released sometime next year, given that Samsung expects to have production-ready foldable smartphones by 2016.

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