Sure, we’ve seen some wild and radical designs for devices currently on the market, but they don’t compare to the insane designs and concepts we see in patent images. Companies patent technologies and some of these images show absolutely alien-looking designs. The majority of them never hit the market, however. Motorola filed a patent for a foldable phone that has two extendable screens. And, it looks rather odd.
When it comes to the foldable phone market, Motorola isn’t the first brand that comes to mind. It only launches its line of clamshell foldable phones like the Motorola Razr+ (Review), and that’s it. So, seeing a patent from Motorola for a radical new type of foldable is rather surprising.
Motorola patents a foldable phone with two extendable screens
Obviously, since we’re talking about a patent, there’s no guarantee that we will see this device hit the market. This just means that Motorola is looking to reserve the technology behind this device in case it plans on using it in the future. So, don’t expect this device in any announcements.
If it’s any company we expected to push foldable technology to its limits, we would have expected it to be Samsung, as the company has given us some wild patents over the past few years. However, Motorola is looking to up its foldable game.
According to the images, when this device is completely folded, it will look rather square. Imagine if someone took a phone like a Google Pixel Fold or OnePlus Open, and squashed it vertically even more. When unfolded, it will almost look like a 16:9 tablet in landscape orientation. Right off the bat, this is off the beaten path for Motorola, as the company has yet to make a notebook foldable.
However, you will then activate a mechanism that will have the screen extend upward several inches. Instead of moving up as one unit, there will actually be two separate screens, one on each side of the phone, that will move upward.
This is a patent, but there may be hope for it
So, we shouldn’t 100% expect this device to hit the market. However, there is a slight chance that it could materialize. Motorola showed off a concept for a rollable phone last year during MWC. Called the Motorola Rizr, this device has one screen that extends upward. It takes the screen size up from 5 inches to 6.1 inches.
According to the rumor, the device seen in this patent may be called the Motorola Rizr Dual. The fact that these potential devices have names means that there’s definitely a possibility of seeing them on the market at some point. Obviously, devices with rollable and extendable displays have yet to hit the market; the technology is in its infancy. We’ll just have to wait to see what the company brings in the future.
Why use this form factor?
This form factor seems very odd, but it could be useful for maximizing screen real estate. This is a device that expands twice; first, it expands when you unfold it and then when you extend it. So, you’d be getting about four times the screen real estate when it’s completely unfolded and extended. We’re not 100% sure exactly how large Motorola would be planning to make this device, but it could possibly offer a much larger screen than current foldables. We could all use more screen real estate.
Some compromises will have to be made like the very square design. However, there definitely seems to be some usefulness to this device.
2024-01-25 15:04:50