Patent Suggests Samsung May Create Its Own Foldable Handheld Console

Samsung Flip Switch

by · Nintendo Life
Image: Samsung

A new patent from South Korean tech giant Samsung suggests that the company may be tinkering with a potential handheld gaming console.

That's not all, though. The patent suggests that such a device may follow in the footsteps of the company's Z Flip and Fold phone lines and boast its own foldable screen. As reported by 91Mobiles (thanks, Tom's Guide), the patent was registered earlier this month via the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), showcasing some pretty clear cut images of a device that closely resembles the Switch in design, but with a few obvious differences.

The biggest one is, of course, the foldable screen. Samsung has been utilising this tech for a few years now, implementing small, but welcome improvements with each iteration of its foldable phone devices. We've also got what looks to be recessed analogue sticks and buttons on either side of the screen, but it's not super clear exactly what these are or how they would function. We're also stumped as to how a foldable screen would actually be beneficial to a handheld console, but then we're not as smart as those tech boffins over at Samsung.

It's worth noting that Samsung itself might not be looking to enter the gaming industry, but could rather be producing foldable screens for other companies. Samsung Display collaborated with Nintendo to produce the screens for the Nintendo Switch - OLED Model, so it's entirely possible that it could be acting on another company's behalf.

Whether this device actually makes it to market is up in the air at the moment, but it's certainly an intriguing prospect. Based on the information that's been leaking out regarding the 'Switch 2', it's unlikely Nintendo is looking to implement foldable screen technology into its own consoles anytime soon; especially considering how darn expensive those fold phones still are.

Image: WIPO

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What could Samsung be up to here? Do you think a foldable handheld console could be even remotely viable as a mass market product? Let us know your thoughts with a comment.

[source designdb.wipo.int, via 91mobiles.com, tomsguide.com]

About Ollie Reynolds

Nintendo Life’s resident horror fanatic, when he’s not knee-deep in Resident Evil and Silent Hill lore, Ollie likes to dive into a good horror book while nursing a lovely cup of tea. He also enjoys long walks and listens to everything from TOOL to Chuck Berry.

Comments 43

Well, if it will have its own OS and exclusive games – it will be a gaming console, indeed. But if it will run on Android, Windows, or an unchanged Linux – it's just a portable gaming PC, not a console.
I'm tired of people calling Steam Deck a console, while it's just a portable gaming PC.

I feel like the clamshell design only works vertically; looks awkward horizontal.

By the by, anyone who has one of those foldable phones, how are they? I'm not interested in getting one myself(not at this moment), but I am curious about other people's takes.

@N00BiSH I don't have one, but I've used my friends and it seems to not have any issues.

Interesting, looking forward to seeing if Samsung will actually end up releasing such a gaming system and in that case which games it will have as those are what matters the most at the end of the day!

Woo! I'm more than into it, I suggest it could happen a couple of times

Lol no just no, its already to crowded in this part. For me its Only nintendo as a handheld (hybrid) console and only steamdeck as a handheld PC (no its not a console) the creators define it as a handheld pc.

@N00BiSH - I had a Samsung Flip 4, loved the tactile form factor. Functioned fine, crease in the screen wasn't too noticeable.
However, after 11 months of genuinely careful use the screen film started lifting and cracking. By the horrendous sound the glass was going too. Took it to my local official Samsung repairer, had to do a factory reset before they'd work on it - and then they didn't have parts so I was without the phone for a week.

I changed to a S24+ before my contract was up, when EE had a special offer.

I don't know if the current Flip 6 is any better, but I'm loathe to risk another foldable and definitely not an expensive gaming handheld!

@Vyacheslav333 that reminds me of the Steam Deck…🫨
That’s why I stick with Nintendo (it was also my first console ever, so I just can’t let go of Nintendo). My friend had a Steam Deck , (he switched to Nintendo😉) and while Steam itself is great to use, the Steam Deck exeperience was horrible (at least for me).

Maybe this will become the Switch 2 Lite eventually

How much you wanna bet it's digital only?

I mean this sounds exactly like their existing foldable phones just without the phone part.

Why do companies that don't already have an established footprint in the gaming market keep trying to push their consoles? It has failed every single time and the companies that do this lose a ton of money. Every. Single. Time.

Why not invest your ideas and tech into already existing consoles, you can then make some money off the percent of sale but will avoid risking manufacturing a million deadweights that won't sell 100 copies?

@N00BiSH I don't own one yet but I'm thinking of getting a Motorola RAZR...later down the road.

Good luck, kid.

the way the analog sticks fit in the button holes is a neat idea, not so sure how well buttons in a hole will work though.

It'll probably just be an Android phone setup for gaming.

I prefer dual screens than folded screen, no thanks.

@N00BiSH I own and use a Flip 5 currently. I've had it for over a year now and am still very satisfied with it. It folds neatly, so there is no dirt or dust that can gather on the screen. I would get a Flip phone again.

@N00BiSH I've had my Z Fold 5 for almost a year now, and so far, so good. It's fantastic for reading comics, and the stylus has pressure sensitivity so it's a pretty decent sketch pad as well. Screen folding aside, it's got great storage, ram, and processing power. I've accidentally dropped it pretty hard a few times, and it took ot like a champ, no shatters or cracks.
But I do worry of course, for the exact reasons @Mii_Duck and others have mentioned.

Suddenly it seems like everyone wants a piece of pie from the handheld market. We’ll have to wait and see which devices will really see the light of day.

I don't really care for folding screens, or at least not yet. Still, if this means Samsung entering the gaming scene for real, I'm kinda interested!

Already copying the Switch 2.

That`s the real Switch 2 !!!

@N00BiSH I use to run a phone store, they are OK but you have to be extremely careful with grit getting in the fold l, we had a lot with a slight brown line in the middle that never goes away. People open their phone hundred times a day and the fold tech just isn't to the point where it was serviceable for most people, and the cost vs functionality was a big issue. The fold from Samsung was 1200 dollars...

I think samsung flip looks like a gameboy advance sp from the future

Yeah hello Nintendo, we want clamshell models again! I want the Switch 2's Lite/Mini design to be clamshell. It's most definitely a selling point!

@Vyacheslav333 I'm glad you agree with me. A natural extension of your argument is that Switch isn't a "hybrid", it's just a handheld.

Would be cool. Panasonic did the Jungle as a MMO handheld kind of like a GPD PC handheld and a DS but that was cancelled, was around time of 3DS/Vita.

Samsung has done Pocket PCs/Tablets in the past in the 2000s, I think the Fold/Flip are really cool, same with the MS Duo till that well stopped. But I like foldable/multiple screen handhelds. They may be expensive but I think it's great they are still around then gone and going great well we get the same slabs forever.

So a handheld form factor whether for gaming or general use is really nice to hear even if a patent.

Give it a good app for casting to the TV and you have the Wii U successor idea I've wanted for a while now. Just like already cast my phone with a third party app to my TV, it has very noticeable lag but for an average phone not the connection tech problems it does a fair job.

Besides the IR better positioned on Right Side Joycons.

@N00BiSH Don't own one but from what I've seen I think the app use cases are fair but unlike a Wii U/3DS/DS it's a pretty basic experience because no one wants to make expand on use cases for them, just the oh 2 apps, 1 big app. If the app even scales well that is. But it varies per app and how much they have made it function on these devices to take advantage of the screen differences they offer.

Even DS did the multiple video per thing, lid close, swapping screens and while you can do say 2 movies, or a web browser/game, write a document and have research on the other on either sure, on Wii U/3DS/DS you obviously can't in the same way so they are ahead but it's a thing I wise Nintendo offered but didn't.

Cut and moved wireless connection stuff with Wii U/3rd party phone apps and such.

I think it can go further but no one wants to bother. Too much time/effort for little use or appreciation of the ideas even if they did happen.

Like to write up a document/research it's probably fine (bigger screen helps then how small the Flip/Fold are I think), for dual movie watching probably fine (no Simulview of PS3 3D glasses games but still). For gaming & a walkthrough/manual probably fine, but I think it can go further.

I assume the touch screen inputs may not be as flexible and may be limited besides multiple touch that's also my guess but I've never heard anyone say anything about it.

That or flexing of screens isn't great but maybe that's been fixed with later models? Or is still a problem these days, 'eventually' they will solve that. Can only guess. They are very expensive for basically a gimmick that you either can get around or not worth it at all.

I think they are cool but understand the limits and do think the lack of app support to expand on them kind of sucks. That and I mean in a general use of apps the few that can support them well for screen space or other factors not just fancy uses I'd want to see happen.

Part 2:
Rambling about wireless connection screen casting.

Let alone I think the wireless casting of Wii U and Vita run better than me using a single screen phone to my TV with a modem to bridge it using a third party app and the lag so 2-5 seconds noticeable (when watching a tv show, or swapping apps, it's unfit for gaming that's also the factor there, but if you want a tv show or to use apps on the big screen and don't care about the delay it's functional). That's with an average spec phone I"m using too.

Besides PSVR or phone/Vita or Playlink party games for PS4 with smartphones as the controllers (Everybody 1-2 Switch phone support 10+ years later of Playlink types stuff).

It says a lot how good Wii U/Vita implementations were by Nintendo/Sony (Xbox remote play/Steam Link, Xbox SmartGlass aka second screen like Vita offered, so same as Vita of over the network while Wii U was local to only the Wii U console, even if Wii U had what 70 feet length and Vita/others had further than that for a local connection it's pretty impressive with no modem or otherwise to extend/bounce it more to other devices and interpret it either to apps/devices it would work with or Pixel phones like Vita being remote play exclusive kind of thing so restrictive till opened up later like Android in 2019/iPhone later, etc.) how good they are for their time and still now besides their limits. Or other smartphone apps by the AAA companies back in that 2012 period no one remembers. Deux Ex Human Revolution worked for Vita/Wii U and I think a smarphone app at the time.

Let alone a dual instance situation like Windows 10 offers of multiple desktop spaces, or how Windows 8 sort of tried. Something Xbox One could have but abandoned because TV TV TV people weren't into, and unused features, thanks gamers, sigh. Cool tech gone for social features and being generally boring console, I love when companies make cool stuff and gamers want a boring box, what a waste. But that's me rambling about other things.

I don't know if we received a bad batch but at my work we've had quite a few of the flip phones comes back because they were taking forever to charge.

Hey look, another thing nobody asked for. Sammy reps must have been out golfing with UBI reps.

I mean, why not. I doubt it will be a big player in the market, but the modern gaming landscape needs a few weirdo handhelds that put out like 20 games and then fade away.

It's not even out yet and it already failed. Who would want a gaming handheld where you had to fold the screen not like a GBA SP or 3DS but like a freaking book?

Samsung striking while the iron is at absolute zero 🧊.

As someone who's had a Samsung foldable phone, please don't. Once dust gets in the folding mechanism my phone broke instantly. Duak screen is better all the way.

@Varkster Playstation and XBox...

@N00BiSH I had a Samsung Z4 Fold for two years and now have a Z6 Fold. I love them. The wireless died on the first one after about a year and I had to get a replacement but since I paid the extra $200 for the Samsung coverage I had a replacement in three days. Samsung could do a better job getting them thinner and decreasing the crease in the middle (which I've heard they have greatly reduced in the Korea/China only Z6 Special Edition) but otherwise they've been pretty great. I like being able to multi-task and do stuff like do financial planning and look at accounts at the same time. I watch videos on it all the time. And it works fantastic for reading books/comic books... as long as you aren't in direct sunlight. I have also splurged and got the $2100 1TB model both times because I also DJ and I move A LOT of music onto the phone to preview while driving/traveling. The one downside, which Google addressed on the Pixel 9 Fold, is that the front screen while closed is every so slightly too skinny to be comfortable to use. The P9F has a screen that is the width of every other normal phone so you can whip it out on the go without having to open it up. My thought is if you're constantly go-go-go most of the Fold phones won't work for you. If you have time to sit the the fold is really useful.

There's also a rumor Samsung is going to try out a tri-fold (which is really a tri-screen, bi-fold) that will open up into a full 10" tablet which I would be all for if it were thin enough to

Not really sure about this weird "dust" issue people talk about. I live in New Mexico where dust is a way of life, never had a problem with dust or creases.

@Vyacheslav333 It's a portable PC in a console form factor. Chill.

@N00BiSH I've had a Fold 5 for about 8 months and have zero issues. Looking forward to sticking with this line.

@splatoonaddict Not sure how it was horrible. It's console-like and steamlined. What's awful are the Windows based ones. Windows is not designed for consoles or handhelds at all. I have a Lenovo Legion Go and sold it and held onto my Steam Deck OLED.

@BinaryMessiah really? That’s weird. He had a Windows running on it…

2 years into my zflip and the screen looks like garbage. Where the screen folds is NOT ok.

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