OPPO just filed a patent for a foldable smartphone, making them the third manufacturer with such plans. It joins ZTE and Samsung in the race to create new innovative smartphone designs.
Unlike the other two manufacturers, OPPO’s foldable design only focuses on the top third of the phone. It actually reminds us of the OPPO N1 and N1 Mini; if you recall, the N1 and N1 Mini use a rotating camera on top that is used for both photos and selfies. The same can be said about the OPPO patent as well.
According to the patent filing, the upper half of the screen will be flexible enough that it can fold onto itself. Some sort of hinge will help in the folding mechanism here. It is assumed that the whole screen will be touch-enabled, so there could be an interesting UI change when the phone is folded back.
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But of course, filing the patent is just the first step – most patents don’t eventually turn into a reality. That said, it will definitely be fascinating to see which company will join ZTE into actually releasing their take on a foldable smartphone.
(Source: Google Patents via Phandroid)
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