Samsung files patent for folding smartphone

An illustration from Samsung's patent (Samsung)
An illustration from Samsung's patent (Samsung)

Flip phones largely died out when Steve Jobs introduced the game-changing iPhone, but Samsung thinks it's time they came back.

But this time, there won't be any hinges - and there might be touchscreens on the outside.

Samsung files patent for folding smartphone

How the phone's hinges might work (Samsung)

The Korean giant, which will be hoping for a massive hit following the exploding Galaxy Note 7 fiasco, has filed a patent for the technology.

From the drawings, it appears the phone will be able to be bent at a number of points along its length, rather than straight down the middle like old-school flip phones.

A "secondary display" will grace the back of the phone, and will activate when the main screen is folded away.

Several tech news sites quoted Kim Don-won, an analyst at Hyundai Securities, predicting the first foldable phones will hit the market in 2017.

He says they will probably be quickly followed by offerings from Apple and Google - the latter of which recently unveiled what it hopes will be an iPhone-killer, the Pixel.

Newshub.