Apple's iPad has been the runaway market leader for 12+ years with Samsung's Galaxy Tab tablets stuck in second place. In Q1 2023, Apple almost doubled Samsung's volume. After being in second place for over a decade, Samsung has invented a new tablet concept in an attempt to outmaneuver Apple's iPad.

Samsung has developed a foldable magnetic base plate that allows the display / tablet to operate in multiple modes including TV and PC. The base plate when not in use, could act as a charging plate for a smartphone and other devices when laid flat.   

Interestingly, Samsung's U.S. filing does list Samsung as the owner. Instead the patent was filed under Samsung's Engineers. Apple also does this when they want to hide projects that they're working on. Yet in Samsung's European filing, the owner is made clear as being Samsung.

Samsung's patent focuses on a new foldable base plate device with magnetics to hold an almost borderless display device, such as a tablet in place. The user could position the display in landscape or portrait mode. In landscape mode, the device could be positioned in various heights that suit the user as presented below. The magnetics also provide an anti-slide lock mechanism to hold the device in place securely.

In patent FIG. 2C above you could see that the device could be plugged into a wall and then when folded, as presented in patent FIG. 3A, the base plate acts as a charging device for a smartphone and more.

Lastly, Samsung's patent FIG. 11 above illustrates video conferencing displayed in various modes while in FIG. 9 we see a base plate variant that includes added speakers to assist in video conferencing TV and Streaming shows and games etc.).

If Samsung want's their PC mode to compete with an iPad, they'll have to have their new tablet device running Windows. Android just won't cut it. Without access to Windows apps, the draw to this new device would be minimal.

For more details, review Samsung's European patent filing here.