Your next Microsoft device could be a foldable screen

A new patent by Microsoft has just been discovered which hints at potential designs of a foldable computing device. However, this patent was filed in 2015, and has recently been published. It shows a device that folds in half and is reminiscent of the Courier, a foldable tablet Microsoft was working on and ultimately abandoned several years ago.

The filing reads, “In order to reduce and/or obscure the visibility of a support structure for a display panel, the present disclosure provides example display devices including curved or otherwise bent regions for directing light to a user’s eye when the user’s gaze is directed to a support structure at an edge of a display panel.” 

It looks like the company has plans to work on a multi-layered screen which will be made up of panels curved edges. It will reside below a single upper layer. Microsoft aims to create an illusion with the curves to make the whole display seem like there is no hinge. It is speculated that the device could be the Surface Phone re-surfacing. Forbes pointed out that the support structure between tiled display devices can be arranged in such a way that the supports are obscured and essentially invisible to the end-user, when viewed from certain angles. That could make for seams between displays that cannot be seen during normal use.

But, this does not indicate that the company will launch a Surface Phone anytime soon. At the moment, you should take this news with a pinch of salt.