In the ever-evolving world of smartphones, new is not always better. Sometimes a company has to push past a boundary to determine how much is too much. But if you are the kind of person who is upset their razor only has five-blades, you may want to take a gander at Samsung’s latest patent application. The application describes a proposed phone that folds not once, not twice, not thrice but, well they do not even have a separate word for it yet, four times.
As shown in the above drawings, two of the folds are very close to each other, so thrice+ would also be a fair description. Featuring a bendable display and new hinge technology, the new concept divides the display into four sections (technically five, but the fifth is too small to count). With a snap of the wrist, this new phone converts from a spacious tablet to a compact storage unit that fits nicely in your pocket.
What Is the Quad-Fold Phone?
If the patent application is to be believed, Samsung’s next-generation foldable device includes:
- Five panel sections connected via four novel hinge mechanisms.
- A flexible display layered with a uniquely engineered glass cover that bends and flexes along the hinge sections.
- Advanced hinge geometry that allows parts of the device to overlap, reducing dead space and enabling a truly compact fold.
Inside the Patent Application: Key Innovations
1. Modular Flex Hinge System
Samsung’s new device uses a flexible glass cover over a base divided into five flat panels by four hinges. The center two hinges surround a thin flat panel that allows the end panels to fold cleanly in upon themselves. This hinged glass system ostensibly balances flexibility and stiffness to allow the flat panels to fold for storage, while presenting a uniform glass surface when in use.
2. More Real Estate
The obvious benefit of the new design is a smaller folded footprint with a larger unfolded display. Some less obvious benefits may be multi-tasking across various panels displaying different applications, head-to-head gaming options, multi-screen workflow solutions, curved privacy screens, and augmented reality applications.
What’s Next?
While this is patent application is not even a patent yet, let alone a retail product, Samsung’s track record with foldables—from the Galaxy Fold to the Z Fold and Z Flip—indicates that this latest innovation may move from paper to palm sooner than you might expect. So, what’s next for the as yet unnamed quad-fold phone? Be on the lookout for:
- A potential concept debut at the Consumer Electronics Show or Mobile World Congress.
- Integrations with Samsung DeX (desktop experience) or Vision AI.
- New partnerships with app developers to support multi-screen interfaces and AI-enhanced multitasking.
Final Thoughts
While the quad-fold phone described in this new patent application sounds interesting, it could still be a year or more from retail, if it ever sees retail at all. More interesting to consider, is all of the new applications that will be created to exploit the benefits of this next generation of hyperflexible mobile screens.
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