As we think of the year 2018 on a full-screen smartphone, our thoughts go out to a smartphone with a huge screen at the front. Samsung’s creative ideas, however, go much further than that. The Korean manufacturer has patented a smartphone that consists entirely of the screen; the front, the sides, and the entire rear.
Samsung smartphone that consists entirely of screen
The Samsung Electronics patent entitled ‘Electronic device involving display’ was approved by WIPO on 5 July 2018.
The patent describes four different design variants. All designs show a display at the front, side and rear. Differences are noticeable in the size of the screen edges and the placement of the camera. Depending on the design, two or three displays are used to affect the displayed design.
Three of the four designs have a thin metal bezel on the sides, which also houses the antenna. With the other design, the display runs all the way around the device. A third display is used for this. This is significantly smaller and moreover flexible and can thus be placed along the side of the device. The third display is provided with an optically transparent layer. No or limited content is shown on this screen. The displays are mounted on an inner housing.
The front and rear displays can function independently of each other. This makes it possible to consult the Internet on one screen while you play a game on the other screen. It is also possible to use one application on both screens. For example, you can receive a message from person 1 on one screen while you are having a chat conversation with person 2 on the other display.
Last month the Korean manufacturer patented a fullscreen smartphone with magnetic strips. By using these strips, instead of a regular frame, it is possible to create an even larger screen area. Similar strips also appear in this patent. These can be made of plastic or metal.
We have previously come across patents from Samsung with futuristic designs. For example, the Korean manufacturer earlier this year patented a Samsung smartphone with dual display, which ran to halfway the rear. At the end of last year, a very stylish design with the double-sided display was also recorded.
We do not expect to see such smartphone designs in the near future. Yet you can ask yourself the question, now that there are full-screen smartphones such as the Vivo NEX and the Oppo Find X, what will be the next step? In the long run, do we all to switch over to a foldable smartphone, or do we prefer to opt for a non-foldable device with a double display?
