The idea of a foldable display was just another myth in the tech world a few years back. However, since the Royole FlexPai came to the market, several major manufacturers picked up the trend of the foldable smartphone. However, no one thought that Microsoft will also adopt this form factor for their devices until they unveiled the Windows-powered Surface Duo and Android-powered Surface Duo late last year. Now, a new patent, ‘Device Having A Screen Region On A Hinge Coupled Between Other Screen Regions’, shows that Microsoft will be adding another new screen to the two-screened devices.
Foldable smartphones are in their preliminary stages as of now. This means manufacturers are still trying to remove some of the problems that still persist in these devices. We saw how Samsung struggled with the foldable form-factor with their first Galaxy Fold.
A Tiny Screen for Notifications
Now, one of the problems that manufacturers are trying to solve is how to deliver notifications to the users when the device is in a closed-form. So, Microsoft plans to solve this problem with a new “Edge Screen” in their devices.
According to a recent patent, Microsoft will be adding a small screen at the hinge of their foldable devices to show the notifications. The “Edge Screen” will likely be a small screen just to display the notifications when the device is in a closed state.
As stated by the Redmond-based tech giant, “The third screen which is called ‘edge screen’ is the screen region of the hinge and information would be displayed on edge screen based on the orientation of the device.”.
This way, when a notification arrives, the user need not open the device just to check that one notification.
Now, as Microsoft is planning to launch their new foldable Surface devices by Q4 2020, there is close to no chance that these devices will feature a screen like this. However, this patent shows how the company plans to solve this problem for their future devices.
