New Huawei patent shows inward folding phone with wraparound screen

A newly found patent reveals that Huawei is working on a different kind of foldable smartphone, possibly to supercede the Mate X and Mate XS, and with a very different display to the one featured on its existing foldables. 

Unlike the Mate X series, this new patent shows a screen that folds inward and - rather than be constantly exposed around the hinge of the phone - is mostly protected inside the phone when it's shut. 

That means Huawei could be adopting the type of flexible display offered by Samsung in the Galaxy Fold, which opens up like a book. 

Unlike Samsung's phone, however, this patent appears to show a display that continues around the edge of the phone, wrapping around to the front of the device. 

The image of the phone open shows there's only bezel on three sides, with the darker screen portion continuing right to the left edge, and the pictures of the phone shut show this display panel wraps around that edge to the front. 

Presumably once shut, this small portion of the display would act in a similar manner to the small screen on the Galaxy Fold too, offering a compact smartphone experience, and not a full sized smartphone screen like we've seen on the Mate X. 

Another thing worth noting is that the images showing a side profile of the closed device show there's no gap internally near the hinge. The two sides of the main internal screen meet each other completely flat. 

Let's Go Digital - the site which first published these patent images - states that this phone will include a zoom camera in that camera system to the left of the front display, and that the phone is likely planned for later this year, possibly around October 2020. 

Whether or not this phone ends up on the market is yet to be seen. As always, nothing is official until the manufacturer itself announces it. 

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