Vivo Patent Shows Off A Folding Smartphone With The Second Screen On The Bottom

Folding smartphones are the future of mobile devices delivering significantly larger screens while still offering a portable form factor. Folding smartphones are currently available from several manufacturers. A new patent has surfaced from Vivo, hinting at a future device with an interesting folding form factor.The patent highlights a folding smartphone with a flexible screen that folds out from the phone's bottom. The bottom screen could be used as a secondary display or a viewfinder for taking selfies. The images seen in the gallery below come from a Chinese patent website CNIPA.

Vivo's patent shows a folding smartphone with only the bottom portion of the display folding rather than folding in half vertically or horizontally like other devices on the market today. The flexible display bends backward from the bottom, so the screen covers the portion of the phone's back. The smaller back screen could be used as a secondary display.

When unfolded, that secondary screen becomes an extension of the primary display. Presumably, the entire screen is one unit with no black bar between the two screens when unfolded. Line art images of the upper section of the phone's back show what appear to be four camera sensors inside of a square along with an LED flash. The sensors are in the center, upper section of the back.

The folding screen has its own indent, so when folded, the back is one smooth unit. The device appears to be reasonably thin. A USB Type-C port for charging the devices on the top edge of the smartphone. Whether or not this device ever comes to market remains to be seen. Frequently patents don't result in products we can purchase.