Microsoft's working on a foldable mobile device, and that's no secret. Earlier in the year, a patent showed off how a Microsoft's foldable device could look like, and we recently revealed more details about the device, codenamed Andromeda, as well as the software powering the device.
Two more patents of Microsoft's foldable mobile device have been published today, and they were first spotted by WalkingCat. While the first patent of the foldable device mainly focused on the hinge design, both of the new patents focus on the imaging capabilities of the devices.
The proposed design compromises of one primary image sensor with a wide field of view while the second optical arrangement on the secondary part of the foldable device can be used to narrow down the field of view. It is not clear exactly how Microsoft plans on using the different FOVs, but it's possible the sensors have something to do with offering a zoom feature on the camera without compromising the image quality.
Both of the patents published today show off a similar hinge design, but one of the patents show off more of a portable phone design while the second one looks similar to a phablet/tablet.
The more interesting part of these new patents is the fact that the inventors listed on the documents are mostly from the Nokia imaging team. This includes Eeruo Tuulos, Eero Salmelin, Urho Konttori, Mikko Juhola, and Marko Eromäki all worked at Nokia to build imaging features (PureView, etc.) for the company's Lumia products. Some of these engineers are no longer believed to be working at Microsoft, which makes sense as the patent was originally filled back in June 2016.
Microsoft's foldable phone project is getting more and more interesting every month. The company is expected to introduce the device sometime next year or 2019, so there's still a lot of time before we get to see the real deal.
Tagged with Andromeda, Foldable, Microsoft, Nokia
Source: Microsoft's Foldable Phone Shows Up Again in New Patents
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