Samsung has issued patents for tri-folding and movable display technologies

Samsung has received patents for its tri-foldable and removable displays from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The South Korean tech conglomerate previously showed off advanced triple displays at CES 2022 that showed a home screen on the first panel and a wide view of a video streaming app on the second and third panels. The company also received a patent for a display that can be expanded by unfolding from a compact body.

The first patent describes the use of a display module with “at least one folding area” as opposed to a traditional book-style folding phone (Fig. 1B) with an outer and inner screen – such as the Galaxy Z Fold 5 or OnePlus Open – Samsung’s patent envisages the use of a triple folding display ( Fig. 2B) which expands in such a way that all three panels are visible when opened simultaneously. This appears to be a patent for Samsung’s Flex S technology, shown by the company two years ago.

Samsung’s standard folding screen (left) and the tri-folding screen
Photo credit: Screenshot/ USPTO

Meanwhile, the company also received a second patent that describes a device with movable display inside a case that is “deformable” in two states – closed and open. The display panels retract inside the housing (Fig. 1A, below) when the device is closed and expand when in use through the use of hinges, according to the patent document.

Various drawings of the removable display show how the panels leave the body and can be expanded to form a large screen – the document does not specify whether this is a foldable smartphone or another device entirely, such as a tablet, monitor or TV. When fully unfolded, the display of the device (Fig. 8A, Fig. 2A) appears much larger than its original form, which is more compact because the entire device retracts into the housing when closed.

Samsung’s removable display when folded (left) and unfolded
Photo credit: Screenshot/ USPTO

Although Samsung has received patents for these two foldable screen technologies, there is no word from the company on plans to introduce them to consumer electronics devices in the near future. The company could also work on refining these technologies while addressing performance and durability issues — common with foldable devices — before making them available to customers.