Apple, Samsung & LG Set To Battle It Out In Foldable Device Market

Like Samsung, Apple is developing a foldable iPhone that is both a smartphone and tablet.

Earlier this week Samsung accidentally confirmed the Galaxy X which is similar to a patent application recently lodged by Apple.

The Samsung offering is tipped to be drastically different to every other handset on the market.

Apple Patent application images.

It’s expected to be flexible, allowing users to fold and twist it, and change its size to suit their needs.

Also tipped to deliver a folding smartphone/tablet is LG the leader in OLED display technology.

Apple’s recently lodged patent shows a device similar to a book that can be opened and closed, transforming the phone into a small tablet.

According to the patent application the description given is ‘An electronic device may have a flexible portion that allows the device to be folded”.

‘The flexible display may have a bending region that allows the display to bend along a bend axis when the device is folded.’

The patent also mentions the device has a MicroOLED screen, a next generation screen technology set to replace the OLED display in the latest iPhone X.

Korean site The Investor, claimed earlier this year the firm is already ‘developing an iPhone with a foldable display’ with the Korean manufacturer.

While LG and Samsung are both developing folding screens, it is believed Apple chose to work with LG over fears to avoid privacy issues.

ng device could transform from an iPhone to an iPad using a special hinge that allows it to be folded in half

LG Display recently created a task force to develop a foldable OLED screen for the new iPhone model, while its parts-making sister firm LG Innotek has also setup a team dedicated to developing the rigid flexible printed circuit board, more widely called RFPCB,’ the Investor says.

‘Panel production could start from 2020,’ it claims.

Samsung has long been rumoured to be developing a radical folding phone – and it could soon see the light of day, it has been claimed.

A support page for the handset has been spotted online weeks after it was certified by Korean authorities.

It is believed the handset could be unveiled at the CES show in Las Vegas in January.