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While Microsoft won a Patent on Tuesday that relates to a Flip Phone, the technology could apply to a future foldable Surface Tablet+

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Unlike the Galaxy Z Fold Booklet-Style smartphone that delivers a single display that folds over when closed, Microsoft decided to go with an oddball design using two separate displays and a visible hinge in the middle. Microsoft had the right idea to enter the foldable market early but chose a methodology that went against the foldable smartphone supply chain. It never stood a chance.

Microsoft's engineers had redesigned the surface duo behind the scenes as witnessed by their book-style foldable patent that we covered in a report in  March 2024. A set of patent figures from that patent is presented below. Then three months later, a second Microsoft patent supporting a reinvention of their surface duo surfaced.  

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Just yesterday, Microsoft was granted a patent for yet another surface smartphone in the form of a flip phone in fact as noted in the patent figures below.

Microsoft's patent FIGS. 2 and 3 show examples of a foldable display device.  In this example, cover glass layer #118 extends from the left side #123 through folding portion #130 to the right side #126 of the device #128. The hinge #112 enables the cover glass layer to be folded through a range of degrees at folding portion; FIG. 6 shows a view of the second backplate #176 and the plurality of backplate slots #180 forming a two-dimensional lattice of slots. With this configuration, and in one potential advantage of the present disclosure, the backplate slots provide pliability to the second backplate to enable the second backplate to freely rotate about the folding axis when the display device is rotated through various angles and orientations.

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Microsoft's patent FIG. 21 above shows a simplified illustration of the folding portion of the cover glass layer at the zero degree orientation;  FIG. 31 shows a flow diagram of an example method for folding a display device through a range of degrees at a folding portion.

Microsoft note in their patent that some computing devices utilize a flexible glass display material that can be folded to create different viewing orientations. For example, some displays may utilize an ultra-thin glass layer with a plastic film. However, such devices can exhibit visible mechanical creases, wrinkles, and other visual artifacts at the folding locations of the display. Additionally, ultra-thin glass displays may be more susceptible to cracking and other physical damage. Further, other components such as supporting backplates can inhibit bi-directional folding of such displays.

Accordingly, patent figures relating to display devices and related methods that utilize configurations of foldable glass with a backplate comprising backplate slots that facilitate folding while avoiding mechanical creases at the folding portion.

The Microsoft patent relate to foldable display devices and methods for folding a display device through a range of degrees. In one example, a display device foldable through 360 degrees at a folding portion comprises a rear cover and a cover glass layer extending from a left side of the display device through the folding portion to a right side of the display device. A light-emitting layer is disposed between the rear cover and the cover glass layer. A backplate is positioned between the rear cover and the light-emitting layer, with the backplate comprising a plurality of backplate slots that each extend from an upper surface of the backplate through a lower surface of the backplate to facilitate bending of the backplate.

For full details, review Microsoft's granted U.S. patent 12108620.

Microsoft's engineering teams were clearly given the task of quickly reinventing the Surface Dou design to match those from Samsung and others in the industry. They created two new form factors. Yet at this point, unless Microsoft is willing to go full tilt with Android, a Windows only smartphone just won't get developer support.

Yet like most patents, Microsoft ensures that their patents isn't restricted to smartphones alone. Microsoft notes in patent point #34 that "In other examples, the display device may take the form of a laptop computing device, tablet computing device, or any other suitable computing device.

A foldable tablet would definitely suit the Windows operating system far more than a smartphone. So this week's granted patent may still be applicable in the not-too-distant future. Stay tuned.

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