LG’s answer to foldable phones may be a detachable display that wraps around the phone

In the never-ending quest for increasing the screen real estate on smartphones, LG has a new idea: a case that’s actually a big, foldable OLED display that can wrap around the phone. 

Yes, it’s a little weird. 

This is according a new LG patent unearthed by Dutch outlet LetsGoDigital (via Android Central). The patent, submitted to the WIPO Global Design Database, as well as The Hague International Design System, describes a case that’s essentially all screen, and can be combined with the mobile phone and used as a foldable display. It can also be set next to the phone (it connects to the phone via a special, vertically positioned connector), allowing you to get a vast amount of screen space. 

Image: WIPO

While this probably wouldn’t be as elegant as having an actually foldable phone, it does have one big advantage: If the foldable display breaks, you should be able to easily replace it as it’s completely separate from your phone. 

LG likes to do things…a little different. The company was one of the first to fully embrace modular phones; it was also one of the first to put a dual camera with a wide lens, as well as a fingerprint scanner, on the back of its phones. 

And when companies like Samsung, Motorola, Xiaomi and Huawei announced foldable smartphones, LG took a different route, by launching a pair of phones with a detachable, secondary screen. 

The latest in the lineup, LG G8X ThinQ, is a pretty good phone, but its secondary screen/case is clunky and will more likely to annoy you than help you in everyday usage. The variant that’s envisioned in this new patent looks a lot sleeker, but then again, it’s just a patent, and there’s no guarantee it will soon — or ever — turn into an actual product.