Google's foldable phone patent released: may be used for its own Pixel phone

Samsung is currently the leading brand in the foldable phone market, and offers two forms, Fold and Flip, both of which adopt an inward folding design. According to foreign media WindowsUnited, two folding screen mobile phone patents applied by Google were recently approved, outlining the most important element of a foldable phone - the hinge, and providing two folding designs, inward and outward. It was previously reported that an internal document from Android revealed Google's plan to develop a folding screen mobile phone, so this patent is expected to be applied to Google's own Pixel phone.

　　The first patent is for an outward folding screen design. According to the patent description, the cross-section of the internal hinge is similar to a trapezoid, which can ensure that the flexible screen is not stretched or compressed. When the screen is folded, the back of the phone will fit perfectly, which is similar to the design of Huawei Mate X.

　　The second is the inward folding screen design. The more traditional inward folding screen has a deep pocket on the inside of the hinge to accommodate the large folding radius of the flexible screen. When the device is fully opened, its outer side does not disappear, and a protruding hinge part is left even when it is opened.

　　IT Home learned that the patent describes: "In a conventional configuration, the hinge mechanism includes multiple hinge segments arranged in a row, each hinge segment includes a sleeve formed in the hinge segment, and a joint assembly including multiple ball joints. Each ball joint is configured to movably couple a pair of adjacent hinge segments of the multiple hinge segments, so that a pair of adjacent hinge segments can move relative to each other." This design avoids the bending problem of the inward folding screen, which is beneficial to extend the life of the screen.