Samsung believes a foldable smartphone with removable camera is a good idea

File this in the “possible, but unlikely” category, but not for the obvious reasons. Samsung recently registered a patent in the United States for a quirky hybrid smartphone that folds in three parts and embeds a slot where you can fit a detachable camera.

We've been talking about foldable smartphones as something more akin to SF movies rather than the reality for several years now. Last month, Samsung finally put an end to these “maybe” reports and revealed the world's first foldable smartphone – Galaxy Fold, which will be available in limited quantities in selected countries for a prohibitive price of $1,980.

Moreover, a few days later Huawei introduced its own foldable smartphone, the Mate X, a much more expensive device that uses a different design than Samsung's Galaxy Fold. Other companies like Xiaomi, Motorola, and ZTE are expected to launch their own foldable handsets in the coming months, which means prices will surely go down a bit.

Even Samsung is said to have two other foldable smartphones in the works, much different than the Galaxy Fold, and we're not talking about specs. Samsung's upcoming foldable smartphones will use a different hinge that will completely change the user experience, hopefully, for the better.

Spotted by Foldable News, Samsung's most recent foldable patent reveals a crazy concept that might not see the light of day anytime soon. Unlike the Galaxy Fold, this concept phone folds in three parts and the back side includes a mechanism that allows you to add a circular camera.

Due to its design, the phone has not one, but two hinges. They don't look to be similar to the one that Samsung uses in the Galaxy Fold, instead, they're more akin to the Huawei Mate X. Obviously, the camera protrudes from the phone when it's attached, making it difficult to carry around.

The real benefit is the multi-purpose lens mount

The patent also mentions that the internal camera and the removable one can be used as a stereoscopic 3D camera, but we're happy that the phone actually has its own snapper although not for the reasons you might think.

Unfortunately, even though the phone does come with its own internal camera, it can only act as a front-facing snapper, which is a major letdown. The detachable camera, on the other hand, can be used as a primary image and video shooter.

Furthermore, the so-called lens mount can be used to attach the phone to a smart wearable device, a car interior, or even a bicycle, so it's not just for the camera.

To summarize, the flexible phone has a front body that includes a first folding portion, a read body that includes a second folding portion, and a connecting body that interconnect the front body and the read body.

We're more excited about the concept's versatility rather than the fact that you can attach a (hopefully) better camera if you want to shoot high-quality images and videos. Although due to the nature of the design, it appears that if you want to capture pictures at all you, then you absolutely need to carry around a detachable camera.

Still, knowing that you can attach the smartphone to other devices adds lots of new functionality. Now, these devices (cars, bicycles, wearables devices) already exist, so the only thing they need would be a suitable interface to connect them to the phone since the ecosystem (Android) already exists.

It's a weird design that has its benefits but not for the reasons that Samsung want you to think. Having a phone that can communicate with a myriad of devices when they're physically attached sounds great in theory, but let's not forget that we're living in the Golden Age of wireless connectivity.