Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) Surface Phone May Double as a Tablet
January 17, 2017
By Victor Alagbe Leave a Comment Filed Under: Consumer Discretionary , News , Technology
The rumored Surface Phone that Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)  has refused to confirm or deny continues making headlines. Over the weekend, news broke that a new patent filing from the Richmond firm is dropping hints that the Surface Phone will have a feature that supports multi-device displays . A new patent awarded to Microsoft suggests that the firm is working on a smartphone with a foldable screen that could enable it to function as a smartphone and as a tablet.
Microsoft is yet to give up on the smartphone market even though it lost money on Nokia and it has retired its Lumia line. The firm is practically silent about its plan to make a new smartphone but it is clear to most that they are working round the clock to build a smartphone that can rival offerings on iOS and Android OS. Microsoft lovers are hopeful that the firm will build a smartphone to complement the dynamic range of devices in the Surface brand.
The Surface Phone might debut with a foldable screen
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) just got a patent from the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The patent describes a smartphone with foldable screens which users can open up for enjoy a tablet-like experience. If the patent feature debuts the Surface Phone, the device will provide users with the small form factor of a portable smartphone and it would provide them with a larger screen for enhanced productivity.
The foldable screen feature will have the Surface Phone sporting the screen on the exterior of the device, thereby ensuring that the device is a smartphone first in its out-of- the-box form factor. When you open up the foldable screen, it then becomes a tablet. The patent filing also suggests that the device might have two hinges and three foldable parts as seen in the image below.
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In the patent filing documentation, Microsoft notes that “Mobile computing devices may be found in a variety of form factors, such as a tablet, a mobile communications device (e.g., a phone), and so forth. As these form factors are optimized for mobile use, a size of the device becomes a primary consideration in its design and implementation as well as in a choice made by a consumer as to which device to purchase.”
Is Microsoft cramming too much features into the Surface Phone?
We still don’t know if Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) will outfit the Surface Phone with the patent features making the news in the last couple of weeks. However, we do know that leaked patent filings about 2-in-1 PC eventually turned out to be true when the firm unveiled its Surface Studio.
In essence, the odds are high that the Surface Phone could debut with a features for multi-device display or foldable screens that turns a smartphone into a tablet.
The foldable screen has a the biggest odds of making it to the market because its patent has been awarded whereas the patent for the multi-device display is still in filing. More so, the firm announced last month that Windows 10 support will debut on ARM chips plus the Windows desktop app support. The firm already has Continuum Mode in the works; hence, nothing stops the Surface team from building an incredible phone that transforms into a tablet.
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