Microsoft to launch triple-screen Surface: The next big trend in foldables.

 

A new Microsoft patent shows that Microsoft is making a new tri-folding Surface device, in a similar manner to a Samsung concept we saw few days ago.

 

Microsoft, in September has launched its latest dual-screen phone, the Surface Duo 2, but a patent picked up by Patently Apple proposes that it is looking to go beyond that design and create a device with two hinges, which will connect three separate displays. The patent was released on December 23, despite being promised last year.

 

Similar to Samsung's concept, the three displays would theoretically combine to form a single, huge tablet screen. The benefit of such design is that the displays could also mound on top of each other, tumbling the overall size of a multi-panel device.

 

A patent design for a Microsoft folding tablet concept

This is made possible by turning pivots, which permit the main screen to remain on the outside of the device, like the Huawei Mate X. It is definitely a thick phone, but one that gives you the screen of a big tablet. But it has no details about the positioning of circuit boards, sensors or cameras.

 

Always, patents are different from an actual indicator that what a product is actually going to look like. Microsoft jumped into the foldables game in 2019, two years after its innovative patents came out in 2017. And the fact that Samsung is exploring similar ideas show that this could likely be a future for our folding phones.

 

Foldables want added polish before new hinges

Microsoft Surface Duo 2

Tri-folding phones definitely sounds useful in theory, but Microsoft needs to refine its two-screen devices.

 

We can praise its hardware enhancements as compared to its under-powered predecessor, which makes it closer to something we honestly want to carry with us on daily basis.

 

The whole experience is hindered by many software bugs, like crashes and freezes, with a fairly limited battery life (around 10-12 hours per charge).

 

All these features are mainly important for devices like the Surface Duo 2, because they are designed for businessmen and power users who want to run different apps on the two screens.

 

But how this concept will be applied to three screens in Microsoft’s patent is not completely but it is possible that it come out with a more appropriate design for genuine foldables like those produced by Samsung.