New Motorola patent takes the fold out of folding smartphone screens

As we have been saying for a few months now, it appears we are heading to an inevitable future of futuristic folding smartphones, with the best designs having actually flexible plastic screens, as can be seen in the Lenovo prototype above.

The screens do face an issue which can be easily anticipated, however – repeatedly opening and closing the screen over a small radius, as one would when it is closed like a book, will eventually result in a crease in the plastic – what Motorola calls semi-permanent deformation.

In a newly published patent, however, Motorola has come up with a rather novel solution – heat.

Motorola proposed a heating element and some sensors be built into the hinge of the device which would detect when the device is completely flat (like in the tablet position) and the screen is off, and then heat the screen to a predetermined temperature, which should help erase any creases and return the screen to a perfectly flat surface.

The patent was published on the 14th June 2018 and can be seen here.

The patent underlines the challenges in creating a new paradigm of devices and suggests the first generations will certainly be an expensive learning process.  Are our readers up for it? Let us know below.

Source and Image Credit: Letsgodigital, Phone Arena