While bezel-less phones were the leading trend of 2017, smartphone companies could step up their game and come up with foldable displays for their phones in 2018. The leading smartphone players seem to have their own plans for phones with foldable displays.
Here’s how the patent describes the device: "An electronic device may have a flexible portion that allows the device to be folded. The device may have a flexible display. The flexible display may have a bending region that allows the display to bend along a bend axis when the device is folded."
There are two concepts of foldable displays doing the rounds — one being a display that can be rolled around like a newspaper, and the other being displays that can combine to become one single display, like a book. The second kind of foldable display seems more probable since device makers will only have to design dual-screen devices that can fold out like flip phones. Dual-screen devices such as the Yotaphone 3 already exist.
There is no confirmation that this device could be launched next year. However, if Samsung launches a foldable device in the near future, chances are that Apple follows up with one soon after.