- A recently-published patent shows off the Samsung tri-fold
- It folds inwards and has three separate batteries built in
- The smartphone could be launched before the end of October
We’ve spent the whole year waiting for the Samsung tri-fold to be officially unveiled, since it was first teased back in January, but a launch does now seem to be imminent – and a newly-published patent filed in Samsung’s home country of South Korea may have revealed its final design.
This patent was spotted by GalaxyClub (via SamMobile), and there are a few interesting bits of information to pull from it. Firstly, it shows off what may be the final design of the foldable, with two hinges for the screen and three display segments.
As previously rumored, the handset folds inwards, unlike the Huawei Mate XT tri-fold – so a second display is required for the outside, when the handset is closed. One of the hinges is slightly larger, as it needs to fold over two sections of the device.
What’s more, we can see that there are three batteries here: one in each of the folding segments, and each a different size. We’re expecting this to be a relatively thin device, something which this patent application backs up, and it’s reassuring to see Samsung trying its best to maximize battery life given the constraints of the form factor.
The rumors so far
Unfortunately, we don’t get any hints about the specs or the features that this phone is going to bring with it from this patent, though a rather standard triple-lens camera system can be supported on the back, and there’s a USB-C port for charging and data transfer on the bottom, as you would expect.
The patent was actually filed around a year ago, though it’s only just been published and made public. It matches what we were already expecting in terms of the design and how the intricate folding mechanism is going to operate.
Previous leaks have pointed to an unsurprising set of features, including NFC and wireless charging, and a trademark filed by Samsung suggests this is going to be called the Galaxy Z Trifold. It should also come with some neat multitasking tricks.
The final question is when we’re actually going to see it. Samsung has promised that the tri-fold will indeed see the light of day before the end of the year, while a recent leak hints at a launch at the end of this month. It’s not clear if the handset is going to be widely available internationally, but we’re hoping so.
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