Patent suggests a Samsung foldable gaming phone with physical buttons

One of the hottest smartphone trends of 2018 was the gaming phone, such as the Xiaomi Black Shark or the ASUS ROG Phone. Likewise, one of the hottest trends of 2019 is expected to be the foldable phone, with almost every major smartphone manufacturer planning one for release this year.

Samsung must have thought, “Hey, what if we combine these?” A newly-published patent filing suggests we could see a Samsung foldable gaming phone at some point in the future.

The patent — spotted by Let’s Go Digital — was filed in the United States at the end of 2017 but was only unveiled publicly yesterday.

Some of the original sketches of the patent are shown above, but Let’s Go Digital created some 3D mockups of what the device could look like based on the patent info:

The patent suggests the device will fold up the middle to create two equal halves with a display on either side. When unfolded, the device becomes a large square-shaped device with one display.

On the side are physical game controls which can be flipped over to hide them when not in use. There’s a D-Pad on the left and then six trigger buttons on the right.

From these mockups, the Samsung foldable gaming phone looks to be a little awkward. The physical buttons are a welcome addition but it seems like the device would be very difficult to hold and play for long stretches of time. The hinge for the physical button section sticks way out and seems like it would get caught on everything.

To be clear though, this is just a patent filing and could either a) never become a real product or b) just be a sketch of an idea that will evolve into something completely different. However, it is interesting to think about what a Samsung foldable gaming phone could be like.

What do you think? Is this something you would want to buy? Let us know in the comments.

NEXT: What we know so far about the Samsung foldable phone