Huawei reportedly files a patent for a clamshell foldable

Lately, Xiaomi may have followed Motorola onto the clamshell-foldable bandwagon; now, Huawei has been implicated in doing the same. The OEM has allegedly filed a patent with the Hague International Design System, which is maintained by the WIPO. The images associated with this document depict a phone that folds vertically, like the Razr, rather than horizontally as does the freshly-released Mate X.

Therefore, the device looks very much like a conventional mobile product, were it not for the hinge halfway down its body. This component may be the most interesting part of the alleged Huawei design. It is not quite like that of the Razr's, particularly in terms of where the air-gaps between the flexible display and rest of the phone are.

The apparent patent is dated March 2019, although it has only turned up on the WIPO archive on November 15, 2019 - ironically, this is the same date as the Mate X's first launch event. Should it prove genuine and attributed to Huawei, it may be that the OEM is planning a range of such devices for the future - perhaps including those that make it into a sub-premium tier some day.