Nokia might be working on a foldable smartphone as the company has just received a new patent regarding the flexible display. The patent has been granted by the US Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) which reveals a diagram resembling a pocket mirror. The patent reveals two identical sides which, as per the diagram, is connected by a hinge. Now, though the patent was applied for back in the year 2013, but the Finnish company has reportedly received it last year and has just been made public. 
The Indian Express wrote the patent reads as , “in this way it is possible to provide a pocket-size device with a relatively large display (for example, a 6, 7 or 8-inch display or larger).” 
The main reason why suddenly foldable smartphones have come into the picture is the ability to fit in a device, with a fairly large display, easily in the pocket. Similar to this, Samsung’s foldable prototype was recently spotted which is rumoured to be dubbed as Galaxy X1 and Galaxy X1 Plus. However, one should note that where we recently saw the possible renders of the upcoming foldable smartphones from Samsung, Nokia has just received the patent. So before you get too excited, this patent in no way means that Nokia is working on a foldable smartphone. On the other hand, a patent for a flexible battery was also filed a few years ago which indicates the possibility of this scenario. In other words, where Samsung’s foldable smartphone might become a reality in the near future, Nokia’s foldable piece of art is surely not coming our way this year.
Coming back to Samsung, the South Korean giant is expected to launch the foldable smartphones sometime in the third or fourth quarter of 2017, as per the latest Weibo post. Other rumours suggest that the foldable phones are tipped to feature a 4K display and there would be various forms of biometric authentication including iris, fingerprint, face and palm detection. Further, LG is also said to be working on a foldable smartphone which reports claims that the company is expected to release about 100,000 units sometime in the fourth quarter of 2017. Further, LG has an advantage of over a couple of years in the development advancement so we are likely to see the LG foldable smartphone first.
Whatever be the case, Are foldable smartphones the next big thing in the smartphone industry? Well, only time will tell as after what happened with project Ara and modular smartphone dream, we are not really sure if foldable smartphones can soon be a reality. There are possibilities, no doubt, but we are too early in the game right now and there’s a lot to go down both in terms of development and final release.