Samsung Galaxy S30 could have this wild four-sided display
Samsung’s Galaxy S30 could get a display with four curved sides, based on a new patent filed by Samsung Display.
As spotted by LetsGoDigital, and illustrated by Jermaine “Concept Creator” Smit, the patent (PDF) shows what you might call the natural extension of Samsung’s ‘Edge Display’ design by adding a curve to the top and bottom edges, but keeping the corners made of metal for structural integrity. It was filed in July 2019 by Samsung Display, a separate part of the Samsung family to phone maker Samsung Mobile, but the two divisions have worked closely in the past.
Anyone who saw the recent reveal of the Huawei P40 Pro will recognise this style of screen, known in Huawei parlance as an ‘Overflow Display’. During our hands-on with the P40 Pro, the subtly curved edges on all sides gave the phone a near-bezelless look, and the soft angles combined with the curved back felt great to hold. This kind of display is clearly possible to make, and potentially what inspired Samsung to work on its own version.
The Galaxy S20 series, Samsung’s most recent flagship phone range, was the first of Samsung flagships since 2015’s Galaxy S6 to not have curved edges on the left and right of the display, either by default or as an optional feature.
The Galaxy Note 20 will be Samsung’s next flagship to launch, but that is probably too far into its production process to make the use of this patent. That brings us to the Galaxy S30. We’re expecting the S30 to be at least as large as the 6.7-inch Galaxy S20 Plus, if not larger than the 6.9-inch Galaxy S20 Ultra, which will make the phone even harder to hold for a number of potential users.
Adding curved edges would make the S30 more ergonomic, and would help reestablish a key part of Samsung’s brand identity, albeit one that divides reviewers, fans and users.
As this is just a patent, Samsung could still be years away from implementing it, if it ever does. But we’ve already seen this design executed rather well by Huawei, so hopefully it’s not out of the question for this display feature to appear on the S30 next year.
