LG Electronics has been awarded numerous patents for various folding phone designs. Keeping pace with the market trends, once again LetsGoDigital is reporting on an LG foldable phone that can be folded twice. One looked like the Samsung Galaxy Fold, the other resembled the Huawei Mate X, while another showed asymmetrical folding phone. Not to forget the spectacular roll-up smartphone and the folding phone with Z-Fold design. The stylus pen equipped with the device is an added attraction.
Foldable LG phone can fold 2x
On October 16, 2018, LG Display filed a design patent with the KIPO (Korean Intellectual Property Office). The patent was approved on April 30, 2019, after which the publication took place on May 7, 2019. There are 16 sketches. The limited patent description states that the device can be folded twice. Apart from that, it is possible to open the device-wide open, after which a large flexible screen unfolds.
Folded up, it is a modern-looking smartphone, with a narrow screen border visible only at the top and bottom. Both on the left and right side the screen extends all the way to the rear of the device, where the display is folded over each other. It gives the device a compact look when folded, while it opens into a tablet-sized screen when unfolded.
The design reminds of the Samsung foldable phone with Z-Fold design, reported earlier this month. However, this smartphone can be folded in different ways, if desired the middle screen part can be used as the front screen.
However, with Samsung’s model, it was also possible to fold the device, as was the case with the Z-Fold design that LG patented. So the Samsung smartphone actually offered everything that these two LG smartphones have to offer together.
Once unfolded, you have one large screen at your disposal with LG’s folding telephone. Unfolded, the device is 3x as large as its most compact form. The device has very minimal screen edges. A sidebar is only visible on the right-hand side, which will include the camera system.
The camera protrudes slightly. If you fold the device down it will rest on the camera. This reduces the risk of scratching the screen. The camera lens itself will undoubtedly be slightly deepened so that it remains optimally protected.
To fold the phone, one needs to first fold the left screen part backward, then the right screen part. These parts fold completely overlapping each other. In this respect, the device, therefore, deviates from the concept that Xiaomi introduced in the beginning of the year.
The Xiaomi foldable smartphone concept could also be folded twice, but this device had a slightly smaller flexible screen, which did not overlap at the rear, but closed seamlessly together. A new variant of this concept telephone has now been patented, the renewed Xiaomi foldable telephone can fold in two directions (outwards and inwards), and a triple camera is also integrated.
Expanded, the LG mobile device is remarkably thin which gives the sleek look. Once folded there are three display parts on top of each other so that the smartphone suddenly becomes considerably thicker. You can probably just put this smartphone in your pocket and can expand this device into a fully-fledged tablet in no time.
LG also provides her roll-up smartphone with a stylus pen. A valuable addition, finally with a stylus you have the possibility to work much more precisely. In addition, numerous new possibilities are emerging.
Just think of the number of functions that Samsung nowadays connects to its S Pen, which received ample attention during the Galaxy Note 10 introduction earlier this month. LG also has several smartphones in the portfolio with a stylus, including the LG Q stylus.
Foldable telephone with stylus pen
The stylus pen of LG’s foldable phone can also be ingeniously stored in the device. The hinge is designed in such a way that the stylus can be clamped in between when you fold the smartphone. This way you can easily slide the pen out of the housing at any time.
Incidentally, we have come across such a type of smartphone design once before. At the beginning of this year, LetsGoDigital published a patent for an Intel folding smartphone, this device also had three display parts and a stylus pen. However, the foldable phone from LG is noticeably thinner, the sidebar was also missing from Intel’s version.
Apart from the camera system, there are no buttons or ports visible on the design sketches. The camera system seems to offer room for three camera lenses. LG’s current flagship devices also feature a triple camera. For example, both the V50 ThinQ and G8 ThinQ have a triple camera. With the G8 this also depends on the region, some models have a dual-camera system.
In both models, besides a regular wide-angle camera, an ultra-wide-angle lens is used as the second lens and the third is a telephoto lens with a 2x optical zoom. It is quite possible that LG opts for a similar setup for its folding phone.
Because you can fold the device in such a way that you can also take selfies with the triple camera, it is not necessary to add an extra selfie camera. That saves the cost price, the Galaxy Fold is equipped with six cameras. One at the front, two inside and three at the rear.
If we compare this model with the roll-up smartphone that LG recently patented, one expects this smartphone will be more solid and durable, partly because the screen is surrounded on all sides by a metal frame. In terms of display size, the two devices hardly differ from each other, both expand into a tablet format.
Manufacturers such as Samsung and Lenovo (Motorola) are also investigating the possibilities of a foldable telephone with an elongated display (clamshell model). Earlier this month, LetsGoDigital managed to exclusively report that the Motorola RAZR is also coming to Europe, this device will be released at the end of this year or the beginning of 2020.
The introduction will take place in the coming months. Recently, we have come across significantly more designs from LG with a tablet design.
Nevertheless, earlier this year LetsGoDigital was able to get hold of photos from the test laboratory showing a flexible screen from LG, which is intended for flip phone design. However, it is still not known as which of the designs LG will initially choose.
Perhaps more will be known about LG’s folding phone at IFA 2019. Finally, pre-order registration for the Samsung Galaxy Fold will commence on the opening day of IFA, which may also induce other manufacturers to discuss the latest developments.
