TechPhonesHonor wants to take foldable phones in a weird new directionFolding phones keep throwing out innovative designs – and there could be more to comeWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

TechPhonesHonor wants to take foldable phones in a weird new directionFolding phones keep throwing out innovative designs – and there could be more to comeWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

Folding phones keep throwing out innovative designs – and there could be more to come

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

(Image credit: Future / Mike Lowe)

Honor Magic VS folding phone

(Image credit: Future / Mike Lowe)

Quick summaryHonor has filed a patent for a device that folds in multiple directions.The idea is to enhance the folding phone experience, but few details are given.

Honor has filed a patent for a device that folds in multiple directions.The idea is to enhance the folding phone experience, but few details are given.

Honor has filed a patent for a device that folds in multiple directions.The idea is to enhance the folding phone experience, but few details are given.

Honor has filed a patent for a device that folds in multiple directions.

The idea is to enhance the folding phone experience, but few details are given.

If you’re looking for wow moments in the smartphone industry, they have been few and far between for some time.

Folding phoneshave the chance to change that, just asHuawei recently did with its tri-folding handset. But, there could be something much more exciting to come.

What this reveals is that Honor isn’t just limiting itself to the current formats where a device folds in half in one direction. Instead, the patent shows a device that would fold on two planes. Exactly how this would work isn’t revealed, but it looks like it will incorporate more hinges to provide those opportunities.

(Image credit: 91 mobiles)

Honor patent folding phone

(Image credit: 91 mobiles)

Of course, the question is why you’d want to fold a device like that, when you can just rotate your device 90 degrees to have the fold on the other axis.

Given that the hinges would all be solid it’s unlikely that you could fold it into quarters because you’d have to stretch over the increasing thickness of the device. There’s also a big question of what happens in the centre where all the hinges meet - how does that segment work?

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Very little is given away in the patent details, except that the aim is to enhance the experience of a folding device and be more competitive.

What direction are folding phones heading in?

There’s no shortage of choices if you’re looking for a foldable – withApplebeing the big exception, of course. Folding phones currently offer flip or book style designs and it’s only very recently that tri-fold devices have started to appear.

But, the future of folding phones may not be based around hinges, instead moving towards the rolling phone concepts that we’ve seen in the past.

There has beena rumour that Samsungcould looking at a rolling phone with a screen measuring 12.4 inches. We’ve previously seen theMoto Rizrconcept too, so these types of form factors aren’t beyond the realms of possibility.

The bigger question is how much they’ll cost and how you ensure that they don’t get damaged as soon as they are out in the real world.

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