Microsoft patented a hinge-based design for a possible flip smartphone
Windows Phone might be having a comeback.
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Flip phones are making a comeback, with the biggest manufacturers in the world, including Samsung and Motorola, releasing such devices for nostalgia-ridden consumers. However, it seems that Microsoft is also thinking about flip smartphones: the Redmond-based tech giant has even patented a hinge-based design that looks identical to what nowadays could be called a flip smartphone.
The patent is described in detail in a paper that Microsoft recently published, Hinged Device with a Flexible Display; the company has been thinking about it since 2023, the year they patented the technology.
As with modern flip smartphones, basically, the design describes a device that can fold. It has two main parts. The flexible display covers the main surface of the first part, goes over the hinge, and covers the main surface of the second part.
The hinge is made up of several smaller parts called sub-assemblies. These sub-assemblies have long, slender pieces called slider links. The slider links are attached at one end to the hinge and at the other end to the first part, allowing them to slide as the device opens and closes.
There’s also an extra hinge sub-assembly in the middle of the other two. This extra sub-assembly has a shorter slider link attached similarly but shorter than the other slider links. The whole mechanism helps it open and close smoothly and ensures the flexible display is not damaged.
As you open the device, the elongated slider links move along their paths, rotating and sliding to allow the flexible display to stretch out flat. When you close the device, the slider links slide back to their original positions, enabling the screen to bend without creasing or getting damaged.
The interesting aspect of this Microsoft-patented design is that it can be used to develop more than flip smartphones. Convertible laptops/tablets such as the existing Microsoft Surface Book can be enhanced with it. It can also be used on Dual-Screen laptops or wearable technology that folds or wraps around the wrist.
The Redmond-based tech giant is not new to foldable devices: the Surface Duo, for example, is a device that can be folded, and it has two displays. What’s more interesting is that this is not the first time Microsoft has patented such a design. Last year, the company filed a patent for a foldable phone in the US. This points out the possibility of Microsoft releasing a flip smartphone at some point. Windows Phone, anyone?
You can read the whole paper here.
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