On September tenth, Patently Apple posted a report titled "Huawei Unveiled the World’s First Tri-Fold Smartphone in an effort to own the Innovation Crown in China." While Huawei was first to capitalize on this concept, it was Samsung that first patented the concept back in October 2012.

While the new trifold from Huawei had an initial boost in sales, it quickly dropped. Samsung will reduce foldable production of foldables from 8.2 million units in 2024 to 5 million in 2025. Though techies love foldables, especially book-style units, it all comes down to price. The elites with money to throw at new tech toys like foldables, love foldables. Yet for the masses, foldable prices will have to drop to around the $1,200 price point before they can challenge today's top selling candybar style smartphones.

With that said, it's understandable why Samsung didn't proceed with a trifold, even if they were first to invent it. If standard foldables are struggling in the market today due to price, then why bring a double fold phone (also referred to as as a tri-fold for some reason) to market at this time.  

Yet with Huawei challenging Samsung on foldables, Samsung is now ramping up their patent filings in preparation for a future double-fold phone. 

In November 2024, Patently Mobile/Patently Apple posted a report on Samsung winning a new double fold smartphone. The image below is from that report.

Last week, the World IP Office published a new Samsung patent regarding a "Multi-Foldable Electronic Device," with a unique design that could offer users a form factor that is both "fold-in" and "fold-out" in nature. It would be a first to market form factor.

Samsung's patent FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram of a rear view of an unfolded state of a multi-foldable electronic device; FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a front view of an unfolded state of a multi-foldable electronic device; FIG. 3 is a drawing schematically showing a state in which a first housing of a multi-foldable electronic device according to one embodiment of the present invention is folded relative to a second housing; FIG. 4 is a drawing schematically showing a state in which the first housing and the third housing of a multi-foldable electronic device according to one embodiment of the present invention are folded relative to the second housing.

Samsung's patent FIG. 8 above is a drawing schematically illustrating one embodiment of critical angles of the first housing and the third housing with respect to the second housing of a multi-foldable electronic device; FIG. 9 is a diagram schematically illustrating a configuration of a multi-foldable electronic device including a first magnet and a second magnet.

The multi-foldable electronic device may further include sensor modules such as  a hall sensor, an acceleration sensor, an angular velocity sensor, a gyro sensor, a folding detection sensor, a proximity sensor, a barometric pressure sensor, a magnetic sensor, a biometric sensor, a temperature sensor, a humidity sensor, or a fingerprint recognition sensor.

The World IP Office published Samsung's new patent application with many more patent images and configurations under number WO2025005482 on January 2, 2024 with 12 of their team members listed as inventors.  

The fist engineer listed on the patent, Namwoo Kim, is from Samsung Biologics. He's a MES engineer manager. An MES engineer is a professional who specializes in Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES). They play a crucial role in the manufacturing environment by designing, implementing, and optimizing MES solutions. Their work ensures that the production processes are efficient, reliable, and meet quality standards.

Samsung Galaxy Smart Ring

Samsung first announced at a Galaxy smartphone event in January 2024 that they would be introducing a smart ring later in the year. Their first patent for a smart ring first surfaced in December 2015. In February 2024, Patently Apple posted a modernized patent regarding their upcoming Samsung smart ring.

Last week, The World IP Office published Samsung's latest smart ring patent application under number WO2025005411 titled "Wearable Device Comprising Sensor."

Samsung's patent FIG. 1 below is an example of a smart ring with FIG. 2 being an exploded view of the ring.

(Click on image to Enlarge)

For Android fans wanting to take a deep dive into Samsung's ring patent details, click here.