If you’ve kept up with our site, you’ve probably come across an article or two involving a foldable Samsung smartphone. While we’re still waiting for it to be shown off, a new patent has put forth another take on the folder, and it’s the most interesting one we’ve seen yet.

The latest patent for a foldable smartphone comes from Samsung, which should be of no surprise as the company seems dead-set on bringing one to market. That said, we’re definitely not going to complain when they do as it should be a true game changer whenever it arrives. While we don’t know what it will look like, another patent points towards a tri-fold design that involves multiple operating systems. We’ll let that sink in for a minute…

On the mobile side of things, Android and Tizen are the two OS’s Samsung dabbles in for the most part, with the occasional Windows handset or slate thrown in for good measures. Their new foldable smartphone patent looks to bring several OS’s together as it would allow users to switch based on the app they are using. The Cloud was mentioned, but no operating systems were listed by name.

As for the design, the foldable Samsung smartphone will fold from the bottom and top as a new age flip phone of sorts. We have no idea how they would pull this off, but a keyboard is shown being folded onto the front of the device from the back, which is pretty darned cool. While anything is possible, it may be a while before this one pans out.

All signs point towards someone releasing a foldable smartphone this year, and Samsung is currently the leading candidate to do so… along with LG. It remains to be seen if either company can actually pull off a consumer version this year, but we’ll keep our fingers crossed and keep you in the loop as we learn more.

PatentlyMobile