Samsung’s Wildest Patent Yet: A Brick Phone That Unfolds, Then Rolls Out Into a Tablet

Samsung’s Wildest Patent Yet: Forget choosing between foldable or rollable — Samsung’s latest patent says why not both?

Just when you thought Samsung had run out of weird foldable ideas, a new patent proves otherwise. Samsung has filed a new patent showing what’s probably the strangest smartphone design yet — a device that looks like a weirdly elongated brick, fairly compact in its “brick” configuration, but combining Samsung’s foldable, bendable, and rollable display technologies into one unique device.

Samsung’s Wildest Patent Yet: The Concept at a Glance

How It Actually Works

The brilliance here is the two-stage transformation. Samsung’s patent describes a compact block with screens on multiple sides that opens into a wide display, then unrolls again into something closer to a small tablet. According to the patent, the phone can be unfolded to reveal a wide screen much like today’s foldables, but the display can be rolled out even further to create a much larger screen.

The patent includes 14 drawing sheets showing the device from every angle, both in folded and unfolded states — in its rolled state, the device resembles a thick, elongated brick with display panels wrapped tightly around the body, with a visible mechanism at one end, while in its unrolled state, those same panels extend outward into what appears to be a significantly larger flat display.

For more on how foldable tech has evolved over the years, check our foldable smartphone evolution guide.

Important Reality Check

Before anyone gets too excited, a major caveat applies. There are no dimensions anywhere in the document, which is the first sign this is concept work and not a phone with a launch window. It’s worth remembering this is a design patent — one that only projects the look of the device — and the drawings don’t reveal what materials it uses or how durable it would be.

It is just a patent at this point, and while Samsung could be testing something like this, it’s equally likely this is simply an idea the company wanted to protect without ever turning it into a commercial product.

Samsung’s Long History With Rollables

This isn’t a one-off experiment. Samsung has filed exotic foldable and rollable patents for years now, including a vertical rollable concept that got the render treatment back in 2025 — and the overwhelming majority of these wild shapes never become anything you can actually hold.

Samsung had previously showcased the “Rollable Flex” concept, a rollable phone with an expandable display that can become up to five times larger than its original size, which the company described as a “unique device.” For more on Samsung’s current foldable lineup, see our Galaxy Z Fold series buying guide.

The Bottom Line

It’s the kind of patent that makes you do a double-take — a brick that becomes a foldable that becomes a near-tablet. But patent filings and shipping products live in very different worlds, and Samsung’s track record with exotic form factors suggests this one is likely to stay exactly where it is: on paper. Still, it’s a fascinating glimpse into how seriously Samsung’s display engineers are exploring the limits of what a “phone” can even mean.

Sources: Android Authority | PhoneArena | Digital Trends