It’s not often we uncover anything particularly exciting in an LG patent, but the South Korean company’s latest is definitely an exception. Awarded by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office last week, it describes a flexible smartphone that bends into a watch. The device looks like something you might find in a futuristic movie. It’s essentially a phone strapped to a bracelet, but because it’s completely flexible — and almost impossibly thin — it wraps right around your wrist. “Exactly how the phone is secured to the band isn’t made clear, though a locking tab or a particularly strong magnet might make sense,” reports AndroidPolice, which was first to stumble across design patent D726,140. While flexible displays are already being built into modern smartphones, LG’s invention still seems a long way from a real product. Not only do you need a flexible screen for a device like this, but also flexible internal components, too.
Of course, things like the processor, RAM, battery, and storage could be built into the bracelet portion of the device, but then the screen itself wouldn’t be removable, and couldn’t function like a traditional smartphone. While this is a cool idea, then, don’t miss out on LG’s upcoming G4 in the hope that this particular device is right around the corner.
