When Samsung gets around to releasing the next-generation of its Galaxy Fold, as it’s expected to do possibly in April 2020, the foldable may end up looking even weirder than it already does.
It seems that Samsung is toying with the idea of giving the notch that houses the camera and other sensors a vertical placement on one side of the front display, a new aesthetic touch for a handset that looks to be otherwise pretty similar in appearance to the first generation of the Fold.
You can get a sense of what Samsung seems to be envisioning here below, via sketches included with patent documentation filed with The Hague System for the international registration of industrial designs and later added to the World Intellectual Property Office database (h/t LetsGoDigital). Included are three separate designs, including a possible vertical notch placement:
The efficacy and attractiveness (or lack thereof) of putting the notch on the side is debatable and certainly isn’t one of the Fold’s major talking points. The focus, of course, has mostly been on things like the form factor, its durability, design flaws that have cropped up, screen problems and the like. As we’ve noted repeatedly, meanwhile, Samsung remains committed to the idea of foldable devices and isn’t pulling the plug anytime soon, never mind the less-than-stellar critical reception that greeted the Galaxy Fold when it was finally released in September.
These sketches, showing Samsung’s experimentation with the placement of a key feature like the notch, underscores that while the company isn’t giving up on the foldable idea, it does see potential to tweak things around the edges. Both literally and figuratively. For example, earlier this year we also saw a rumor that Samsung is prepping a new Galaxy Fold that would offer S Pen support. April will be here before you know it, which means we should have a solid idea of the company’s plans well before then.
