14 DAY TRIAL // Otter Products LLC, an American company that makes rugged smartphone cases, just had one of its patent describing a collection of them for a foldable smartphone published on October 11, as discovered by LetsGoDigital.
The "Protective Enclosure For Encasing an Electronic Device" patent filed on June 8 and published by both USPTO and WIPO describes multiple versions of shock-absorbing and water-resistant cases for foldable smartphones that come in a clamshell form factor.
"The electronic device may be a foldable device that may include a top device portion and a bottom device portion, and the top device portion and the bottom device portion may be pivotably displaceable about a device hinge axis from or between an open first position and a closed second position," says Otter Products LLC's patent.
An additional foldable tablet design also appears in the patent with the hinge seemingly integrated into the device's display and the case being composed of two separate parts that can be slid on the tablet's body.
Otter Products LLC's published patent presents a collection of cases for foldable smartphones
The hinges' mechanical workings and position on the foldable devices are what make the difference between the multiple cases designs presented in the patent, with some of them having a fixed hinge mechanism while others come with a flexible hinge more appropriate for shock absorbent case materials.
Moreover, there are no dimensions mentioned in Otter Products LLC's patent, and very little detail is presented regarding the materials used to build the protective cases.
Even if smartphone or tablet manufacturers have not yet published official specifications for any foldable devices, it is a safe bet to say (and general knowledge by now) that case makers usually receive detailed information on future device designs to be able to release protective covers on time.
Although there are no foldable smartphones or tablets on the market yet, Samsung already teased a foldable phone preview for next month (dubbed Galaxy X), with a possible launch at a later time during 2019.
“We may provide partial information of the foldable phone at the Samsung Developer Conference (SDC) in November, but the finished product won't be available there,” an unnamed company official said to The Korea Times.
To have an idea of what such a foldable phone would look like, we linked a video of a foldable Samsung smartphone concept below:
