Nokia granted patent for folding smartphone design, but don't expect a foldable smartphone soon

Nokia has been granted a patent for what appears to be a folding phone that can potentially be packed into something that’s not unlike a cosmetic compact used by women.The display of the phone apparently opens up to its full length when the case is opened. When folded, the display curves rather than folds, making it a single unit.The internals of the “phone” haven’t been laid out in the patent application. It’s also worth noting that the patent was awarded to Nokia Corporation rather than HMD Global, which actually owns the rights to the Nokia brand name.[caption id="attachment_357730" align="aligncenter" width="640"] The phone in the patent application looks a lot like this compact.[/caption]The reveal of Nokia’s folding phone patent comes just days after a similar patent application from Samsung. Samsung’s design, however, uses a fold-out display rather than a fold-in one. This means that the display remains on the outside when the phone is folded.The same report revealed that LG was also working on foldable displays and that LG’s foldable display technology was more advanced.Both LG and Samsung are expected to ship a 100,000 folding screen devices by year end. Despite the patent application, Nokia may never actually build or ship a folding a screen device, though. The company has only just started rebuilding its smartphone division with HMD Global and we don’t see the company taking too much of a risk with designs any time soon.