When you’re a smartphone manufacturer preparing to introduce an all-new form factor to the marketplace, you certainly want to give the new handset a great name. A name that conveys something about the device that may seem unusual to people at first, especially those who are used to interacting with their mobile devices a certain way.
Along these lines, it seemed up until this point that Samsung was leaning toward calling its much-anticipated foldable phone something that has the word “Flex” in the name — say, Samsung Flex or Galaxy Flex. That’s based on reporting from The Wall Street Journal in recent days, and it certainly makes sense for conveying how the device works. Meanwhile, however, new potential branding for the bendy phone has also emerged.
As spotted by 91mobiles, Samsung has filed a trademark in the UK for a product called the Samsung Galaxy Fold, which presumably refers to its foldable phone. It was filed on November 27th under the so-called “Class 9” category, which includes only smartphones and tablets.
Another important point worth nothing: According to 91mobiles, the patent was filed on behalf of Samsung by London-based Fieldfisher LPP, which recently also applied for another trademark dubbed “Samsung Rize.” That one, too, was filed under the “Class 9” category, giving us one more tantalizing clue about what naming convention Samsung may ultimately decide to go with for its new phone.
The caveat, of course, is that neither of these might be under serious consideration — that the company may just be preserving options so it has the biggest selection of names to pick from. Still, though, when you’ve got a foldable phone and you want to somehow convey that in the name, it would seem that you’ve got a somewhat limited selection of words to choose from, right? “Fold” definitely works. To that end, we reported just a few days ago that there’s also some pretty significant overlap between three major phone makers all vying to bring foldable devices to market — and all of which are considering pretty similar naming options.
The one name that seems to be liked by LG, Huawei and Samsung as a good possibility for a foldable device is Flex, which makes sense. The WSJ reporting said that Samsung has considered Flex. According to LetsGoDigital, LG has filed several trademarks with the European Union Intellectual Property Office that show it’s considering Flex, among other names. And based on some IP documents reviewed by AndroidHeadlines, Huawei is also reportedly considering names like the Mate Flex, Mate Flexi for its foldable phone.
Expect to see more leaks in the coming weeks, especially as we get closer to the phone’s reveal when we’ll finally find out things like its name and other key details.
