Samsung triple screen phone patent swivels out like a fan

What if you could design products with little thought for market viability or sometimes even technical feasibility? What if you had near limitless freedom to dream big? While patents still need to be grounded on reality, they’re often an opportunity to put big ideas on paper, no matter how mind-boggling they may sound. Samsung has definitely had its fair share of odd patents but this triple screen patent filed by Samsung Display probably takes the cake in terms of strangeness and head-scratching.

Forget foldable screens, the idea for this phone involves three separate screens. These are stacked on top of each other and, based on the patent, are connected through a single bar at the bottom that serves as a pivot for the three slates. The bottom of the phone is also round, in contrast to the sides, hinting that the phone may turn on that point.

To access the other two screens, you’re supposed to swivel them out like a fan or a color range palette. That gives you access to three displays that seem to be independent of each other or at least function separately even while connected to each other.

One will probably wonder about the practical use of such a design. One thing that could come out of this odd patent is multitasking without having to modify apps to support unconventional form factors. One can keep on using a regular chat app while watching a video on the sides, quite literally.

It still raises the question of how usable that system is when you can’t hold the phone normally. Of course as a patent, there is no assurance it will ever become an actual product. But if and when it does happen, Samsung can claim dibs on it.