Triple-Display Phones On Way

Phone screens that fold in half may soon be yesterday's news. Two smartphone giants are both reportedly working on triple foldable phones.

Huawei and Samsung have both previously filed patents for relevant technology. Now reports suggest Samsung will release a model later this year while Huawei may beat it to the punch with a release somewhere between April and June. The reports have been fuelled partly by orders placed with component manufacturers in Taiwan. (Source: pandaily.com)

While Huawei may be first to market, Samsung would have a major advantage in the US market. That's because the US currently bans any new Huawei devices from import and sale in the country on security grounds. It's also difficult to officially run any Google services on Huawei devices.

Tablet-Like Display

The phones would likely fold out horizontally to produce a giant widescreen display. Neither model's size has been confirmed but as a point of comparison, a screen in the region of six inches diagonal is common today. A triple foldout phone of the same height and width would have a display somewhere in the region of nine by five inches, slightly bigger than the iPad mini tablet.

Based on the patent filings, the folding mechanism would likely have one hinge such that the front of the device folded out to the left and another hinge so that the back of the device folded out to the right. That could allow different combinations such as two normal phone size displays, or one normal display and one double-width display, each showing different content. (Source: tomsguide.com)

Questions Remain

With most previous fold out designs, the main question has been whether the benefit of a larger screen size is outweighed by reduced durability on the hinged sections, and by the almost inevitable increase in thickness and weight. There's also the question of how much of a price premium such devices would carry.

In this case, another big question is whether effectively being able to carry a tablet computer in a pocket would be a more significant and practical advantage than simply getting a double-sized phone display.

What's Your Opinion?

Have you used a foldout phone? Would you be interest in a triple-fold display? Would it make enough of a difference in every day use to be more than a gimmick?