Tablets can do things smartphones can’t. Folding smartphones can do things normal smartphones can’t. So it was only inevitable that someone would make a folding tablet eventually, and a patent shows Samsung’s attempts to do just that.
Spotted by LetsGoDigital, this patent shows a double-folding flexible device with two hinges, rather than current devices like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 with only one fold. The patent was filed in the US in late 2020, and was just granted.
We’d actually heard a rumor that Samsung was working on a product like this, perhaps for a 2022 release, but that’s up in the air right now.
In the patent there are various use cases of the tablet shown. Some of these include ways it can fold, like with the two sides of the device folding back behind it to make a smaller screen, or into an S-looking design which would again result in a smaller screen.
We can also see ways that open applications would be split between the screens, as one graphic shows three overlapping windows on the tablet, that get segregated into distinct areas once the screen gets folded.
