Foldable phones may soon move to motorised hinges

Foldable phones have been here for a while now. However, we haven’t seen any ground-breaking upgrades on the hinge yet – perhaps the most important component in a foldable device.

Now, however, a new patent for an upcoming foldable phone reveals a new tech that may change the way we use foldable phones. Read on to learn more about how this will work.

What’s this new tech for foldables?

Motorola has filed a patent titled ‘Autonomous form factor control of a foldable mobile device’ with the US Patent Application Publication. The patent shows a new foldable phone mechanism that may just make things more convenient for foldable phone users.

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The patent shows a foldable phone that can automatically adjust its hinge using SMA (Shape Memory Alloy) material and a small motor. For the unversed, SMA is a piece of NASA tech that was originally intended for space aircraft. This material can change shape when heat is applied.

Hence, phone companies are now planning to use this material in their foldables. We have already seen this material being used by Apple and Honor for their foldables based on their respective patents.

The folding phone on the latest patent has a hinge made of SMA, allowing it to move its shape due to thermal energy, created after converting kinetic energy generated through electrical stimuli, motion, and friction.

In addition to this is LRA (Linear Resonant Actuators) that will help move the hinge. Both these materials will be the backbone of the adjustable hinge. Now, here comes the third component, the camera. Since the hinge will adjust its movement as per the user’s movements, it will utilise the phone’s front camera to track the user’s movements.

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Having said that, if you look from a different angle at the foldable phone, it may move the hinge and tilt the display in the direction you are looking. That’s surely a unique hinge mechanism, and it may actually change how we might use foldables going forward.

But then, this is just a patent, which means, it may take a long time for it to materialise and be an actual thing. Until then, if you are a fan of foldable phones, you have to rely on the existing options in the market, like the recently released Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold and Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 6, among other options.