LG has filed a new patent to the United States Patent And Trademark Office (USPTO) that suggest outside-the-box thinking for future smartphones. Specifically, a screen that is designed to stretch and expand all four corners of the screen rather than unfolding.
The patent shows the back of the phone with four triangle-shaped segments. Each segment allows the display to expand in one direction at a time. This essentially turns a smartphone into a tablet via stretching the screen. The patent also posits new software features for different modes when stretching the screen.
This includes changes in UI, extra information on the stretched display and so on. Additionally, there looks to be two versions of the stretchable display in the patent – one that only expands vertically and another that expands both vertically and horizontally.
As these things usually go, it is not a certainty that LG will be releasing a stretchable display device. It is, however, an encouraging sign that smartphone makers are innovating and leaving the design plateau currently experienced by the market.
(Source: USPTO, mobielkopen.nl via PhoneArena)
