Hadlee Simons / Android Authority
TL;DR
- A patent for a future Galaxy Fold device shows a double-folding hinge.
- Interestingly, there’s a slot to store an S Pen between two of the panels.
- We saw similar physical prototypes (without the S Pen) at CES this year, so it’s possible this could become a reality.
Samsung has released a few very different foldables already, but all of them have one thing in common: they fold once. At CES 2022, though, we saw working prototypes of phones that fold multiple times.
If you’ll remember, the most recent Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 is the first foldable device from the company to support the use of an S Pen. However, there’s no slot to store an S Pen within the phone. Instead, you can buy a special case that stores the stylus.
Theoretically, Samsung could just create an S Pen slot similar to what it did with Galaxy Note phones. However, this could present issues for other internal components of a foldable phone.
You can see the patent drawings (as enhanced by LGD) below to get an idea of how Samsung could solve this problem.
Future Galaxy fold device patent
Samsung filed this patent on July 23, 2021. Today, January 27, 2022, the patent finally became available to the general public.
As with any patent filing, there’s no guarantee this would ever become a real product. However, with Samsung’s CES 2022 event behind us, it’s clear the company is all-in on foldable technology, and devices with multiple hinges are almost certainly on the way.
As such, it’s very possible this patent filing could be a crude form of a future Galaxy fold device.
The S Pen slotting between the two back panels is pretty ingenious. This solves the problem of needing to hollow out a large chunk of one of the panels to store the S Pen, instead only needing a relatively small gap spread out across two panels. It’s a very economical use of space.
Of course, the question then becomes whether or not the S Pen just falls out of its slot any time you open the phone. Presumably, Samsung would use magnets to keep the stylus in place when you don’t want to use it.
We’ll need to wait and see how this patent pans out. In the meantime, let us know what you think about it in the comments!
