Microsoft's first attempt at a folding phone didn't go so well, though a fresh patent from the Windows giant suggests it might be holding out hope that a 360-degree foldable screen could make the difference. 

The patent, published this month by the World Intellectual Property Organization and only just spotted, details a design for a suspiciously Surface Duo-looking folding device that ditches the gap between twin screens for a single folding one. Rather than simply closing flat like other foldable phones, Microsoft envisions this one doing something you oughtn't do with anything but the cheapest of mass-market paperbacks: fold it 360 degrees so the halves of its outer case meet. 

Other folding devices "are incapable of folding the display in the opposite direction into an open or back-to-back orientation," Microsoft said in its filing, because "these devices utilize hinge designs that would stretch and exert tensile stresses on the flexible display substrate that would damage [it] upon folding [outward]."

Samsung, the current leader in folding smartphones, previewed similar technology earlier this year, while fellow South Korean chaebol LG showed off 360-degree foldable OLED screens more than a year ago. 

In other words, Redmond isn't exactly breaking ground here. 

To relieve tensile stress on its potential 360-degree foldable, Microsoft said it designed the complicated system to translate the device's two halves toward the spine of the device in a manner that "substantially eliminates potentially damaging tensile stresses." The effect is achieved by cams that are "configured to produce a larger translation" in the position of the device's halves relative to the spine when back-to-back compared to when closed normally. 

The Windows maker tried twice with its dual-screen Surface Duo Android Smartphone in 2019 and 2021, though Microsoft reportedly killed the line early this year. As of writing the Surface Duo 2 is listed as unavailable on Microsoft's website. 

Whether this 360-degree foldable will emerge to replace the widely lampooned Duo is unknown. Microsoft hasn't answered questions we asked about the patent, which doesn't appear to have been granted - only published, meaning it's available for public review. 

As is always the case with patents, it's difficult to know what's a future product and what's simply a company throwing ideas at the wall to see what sticks.

Previously patented Microsoft ideas have included brain-computer interfaces and the ability for the Hololens to learn what your keys look like and find them when you can't - provided you actually want to wear the things. ®

https://www.theregister.com//2023/08/30/360_degree_microsoft_folding_screen/