In order to wash away the memories of the Surface Duo and Surface Duo 2’s lukewarm reception in the market, Microsoft seeks to reinvigorate its lineup with a trifold design. Nothing is confirmed yet, but Patently Apple found a submission by the company to bring this unique concept to life.
As seen in the diagram, the screens fold three ways, equipped with two hinges. This looks similar to a brochure, so the way you hold it may be similar.
With the nature of competition in the tech space nowadays, we can assume that the goal is to be the first to bring this technology to the public. However, we advise Microsoft to take their sweet time with R&D of the trifold design as there is no guarantee that the first will always garner all the sales. First-generation tech will always have a certain degree of rawness and wonkiness that can only be experienced in everyday use. Prime examples of these are the first-generation Samsung Galaxy Folds and the Motorola Razr, to name a few.
Taking part in this race are TCL and Samsung as well, so we can expect the foldable smartphone to evolve both in looks and utility as the years go by. Hopefully, software tweaks can also be done to allow these devices to bring more to the table and maximize their hardware characteristics.
