Flip phones used to rule the world. Just ask Motorola: Its clamshell phone, the Razr, was one of the most popular phones of the last decade, selling more than 130 million units during its four-year run.
Samsung might end up capitalizing on that nostalgia. Though its mobile business is struggling at the moment, the company said it plans to release its first smartphone with a super flexible display this year.
Based on this patent, which was filed last April but published by the US Patent and Trademark Office earlier this month, it's possible Samsung plans to release a smart flip phone.
As you can see in the images from this patent, Samsung is experimenting with a super flexible phone that looks straight and sturdy at first, but can be bent inward like a typical clamshell phone, and also bent outward quite a bit.
USPTO
At first, the phone looks like a normal smartphone, with a thn form factor and flat display.
USPTO
But the phone can also be bent inward...
USPTO
According to Samsung, this phone "may be folded at one or more locations."
USPTO
The phone would be most portable in its folded state.
USPTO
Samsung says you'd be able to manipulate the foldable display to release any "strain" created by keeping the phone folded for a long period of time.
The biggest problem with this idea is all the strain that accumulates by continually folding the display, or keeping the display folded for a long period of time, which can result in deformations and imperfections, Samsung notes. But Samsung's patent also describes how the phone could keep track of how long it's been in the folded and unfolded states, so as to alert the user of any strain that needs to be relieved. This could help extend the lifetime of the phone and its display.
But this kind of phone could have mass appeal: The biggest advantage of the flip phone, of course, is that the display can remain protected when it's closed, so even if it's shuffling around your pocket or purse, the screen won't get scratched or damaged. And better yet, when you fold the phone, it has a smaller form factor, which makes them more portable and harder to steal (since it's not poking out of your pocket like an iPhone 6 Plus).
We've seen plenty of curved phones over the last few years - Samsung's "Galaxy Round" from 2013 was one of the first big "curved" phones, and last year's Galaxy Note Edge offered one curved side with unique functions. But it'd really be something to see a premium-looking smartphone that could be folded in half: Of all of Samsung's crazy patents we've seen, this one just might work.