Learning from the best! While we know that Microsoft is busy working on the Surface Duo 3, precious few details regarding this upcoming Android handset have surfaced.
The company is holding its annual hardware event in October, where devices like the Surface Pro 9 and the Surface Studio 3 are expected. However, there are no signs yet of the Surface Duo 3, which is tracking for a launch sometime in 2023.
That said, there are signs in other places if you look.
A new patent application hints that Microsoft is preparing something very special for the growing foldable market with a design that could apply to the Surface Duo 3.
The patent application FOLDABLE DISPLAY DEVICE was filed in 2021 and published this year. It details what is likely a very promising handheld foldable phone with hardware right up there with the very best in business.
Say, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4.
As you know, Surface Duo features two screens with a hinge in the middle that enables rotation. This successor that Microsoft is working on is believed to be a single-screen phone with one foldable panel that can go from 0 to 360 degrees.
The patent application’s picture above shows how this foldable phone can switch seamlessly between a tablet and a one-handed smartphone.
This is a rather radical idea when you consider the unique form factor, which allows the phone’s display to bend both inwards and outwards. This has actually not been implemented by any Android manufacturer so far.
Phones from the likes of Samsung only support inward folding when the display is on the top, so this may continue the Surface tradition of innovating something new.
And, really, something like this only works if Microsoft can create a new optimized UI for it.
But that’s a topic for another day, as this is just a patent. And patents don’t necessarily mean that the Surface Duo 3 with this design is imminent or even likely. However, patents like this give us a better look at what a company like Microsoft may be thinking.
And you know what they say, it’s the thought that counts!
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Microsoft Courier from 2009
They did it first.
https://gizmodo.com/courier-first-details-of-microsofts-secret-tablet-5365299
i have a windows nokia 1520 and hp stream 8 tablet. all of them i bought when windows mobilie came out and all of them abandoned by microsoft. my samsung s4 is still working. not unless the big kahunas in microsoft decides to revive again the windows mobile flatform or use android it will never come to reality. im a big fan of windows. the best machine so far is the surface tablet.