Xiaomi displayed the Mi Mix Alpha in 2019. It boasted a so-called ‘Surround Display’. Then, the manufacturer filed several patents for similar smartphone models. LG, before closing its smartphone business, also was developing a phone with a flexible wrap-around screen. We have heard similar news from Samsung, Huawei, Honor, and Oppo. But who we haven’t been thinking about was Motorola. Today, LetsGoDigital created and published a set of photos showing the Motorola phone with a wrap-around display.
Our friends at LetsGoDigital made these photos based on two patents. In June 2020, Motorola Mobility LLC filed a patent with the USPTO (the United States Patent and Trademark Office) for a ‘Unitary pre-formed fascia tension at least two sides of an electronic device housing and corresponding methods and devices’. The documentation was approved and published on December 23, 2021, and describes in detail the manufacturing process of a smartphone in which the housing is completely wrapped with a flexible screen.
In August this year, the company submitted additional documentation related to the same device. Various new user options are described under the heading ‘Methods and systems for altering virtual button arrangements presented on one or more displays of an electronic device’. This patent was also released on December 23, 2021.
Motorola has also filed the same documentation in Germany with the DPMA (German Patent and Trade Mark Office) and the WIPO (World Intellectual Property Office), for the worldwide protection of the patented technology.
According to the patents, the Motorola phone comes with one large flexible display. But the screen surface covers the front, both sides, and the entire back. Because the sides also have a touch display, the physical buttons are missing. Instead, virtual buttons are added. As a result, the frame of the housing is only visible at the extreme top and bottom of the device.
The bottom provides access to the SIM slot and a USB-C port. A microphone and speaker are also placed at the bottom. An additional microphone and speaker are placed on the top, as well as an on/off button. It is unclear where the camera system will be placed. So there is every reason to think it might use an under-display camera.
Furthermore, the patent documentation talks about touch operation and operation with a stylus pen. Motorola already has several phones in its range that are compatible with a stylus. So it is not ruled out that future smartphones of the brand will be equipped with a flexible screen and stylus support.
