New Foldable Smartphone?
It has been found that lately Samsung Group affiliates received US patents on smart devices one after another.
According to the smartphone industry on October 4, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) registered “a patent on a foldable display and a method to produce it” by Samsung Display as 9,445,306 B2. So it is highly anticipated that foldable smartphones may hit shelves in the market.
This patent is about a method to produce a display made of a thin metal film, an insulating layer on it, an organic electroluminescence device formed on a substrate and a thin film layer which surrounds the organic electroluminescence device. Here, the organic electroluminescence device emits light in a direction which is opposite to the substrate. The utilization of this technology enables a display to be folded in a direction to reveal the thin metal film to the outside.
Among Samsung Electronics’ patent applications in the US is one about an “edge-type” smart terminal that can be folded and carried like a wallet. A user of this terminal can decide which part will show which contents depending on folding degrees.
These patents were registered or unveiled at home and abroad several years ago. So this fact indicates that Samsung Group affiliates have prepared the design and production of such products for a long time.
Besides, Samsung Group affiliates including Samsung Display and Samsung Electronics hold 30 US parents related to foldable displays and 14 of them were registered this year.