February 13, 2019
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The World Intellectual Property Organization recently made public a patent application filed by Samsung with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) that describes an entirely bezel-free cellphone design. A “bezel” is the border between a screen and a phone’s frame.
According to the patent description, Samsung is proposing a “bezel-less display device”, meaning “the display device may not include a bezel by including a flexible display panel” and “at least one vertex of the flat display area is rounded”. The drawings included with the patent show that the side displays will act to frame the device, meaning there will be no metal frame around the phone.
It will be interesting to see if and how Samsung uses this patent to pair back its physical hardware in favour of hidden features and wireless connectivity.
Authors: Larissa Fulop and Pearl Lee