You can think of the smartphone industry as an arms race. Every company is trying to come up with the wildest, most interesting design possible to draw in customers, but there should be a reason behind the madness. Weird for the sake of weird doesn’t work. Well, Xiaomi might have finally cracked the strangest possible design for a smartphone, because a recently leaked patent shows a phone that can quite literally split in half.
Let me be clear: this phone isn’t in production. It’s just a dream and a patent right now. It was filed with the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), so Xiaomi might explore production in the future — but it’s probably better if you don’t hold your breath. Heck, we’re not even sure exactly how the phone is supposed to look.
The sketches submitted alongside the patent appear to show magnetic pogo pins in the middle of the phone. This is the separation point, and when split, it would yield two phones with a smaller screen. The patent also seems to suggest the phone can swivel, but it might be more a case of detaching the phone and reattaching it in a different way.
Perhaps placing the two halves in a perpendicular connection would make it easier to take pictures by creating a sort of grip underneath. Getting our hands on a leak like this is great, but it always leaves us wanting more answers.
This sort of design suggests two separate batteries, as it’s unlikely that a single battery would work in a build like this. Splitting the phone could potentially reduce power demand and help extend the life of the battery, but it could also be used for multiplayer mobile gaming, where each player has a “controller” of their own. (Just think of how weird the case designs for a phone like this would be.)
One of the two halves will have a camera, but the other will not. We’re not entirely sure what the intended use cases for a phone like this are, but it’s one of the most interesting designs we’ve come across recently. It feels like a possible next step in the evolution of foldable devices. While the future of a device like this is still up in the air, we’re excited to see the “normal” design of phones become more fluid.
