In the never-ending quest for increasing the screen real estate on ?? ??? ??? ??smartphones, LG has a new idea: a case that's actually a big, foldable OLED display that can wrap around the phone.
Yes, it's a little weird.
This is according a new LG patent unearthed by Dutch outlet LetsGoDigital (via Android Central). The patent, submitted to the WIPO Global Design Database, as well as The Hague International Design System, describes a case that's essentially all screen, and can be combined with the mobile phone and used as a foldable display. It can also be set next to the phone (it connects to the phone via a special, vertically positioned connector), allowing you to get a vast amount of screen space.
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It looks a lot sleeker than the secondary screen/case on the LG G8X ThinQ. Credit: WIPO While this probably wouldn't be as elegant as having an actually foldable phone, it does have one big advantage: If the foldable display breaks, you should be able to easily replace it as it's completely separate from your phone.
SEE ALSO: The LG G8X has a dual screen, but its best feature is the priceLG likes to do things...a little different. The company was one of the first to fully embrace modular phones; it was also one of the first to put a dual camera with a wide lens, as well as a fingerprint scanner, on the back of its phones.
And when companies like Samsung, Motorola, Xiaomi and Huawei announced foldable smartphones, LG took a different route, by launching a pair of phones with a detachable, secondary screen.
The latest in the lineup, LG G8X ThinQ, is a pretty good phone, but its secondary screen/case is clunky and will more likely to annoy you than help you in everyday usage. The variant that's envisioned in this new patent looks a lot sleeker, but then again, it's just a patent, and there's no guarantee it will soon -- or ever -- turn into an actual product.