Microsoft Patent Renders Give a Tantalising Glimpse at What the Surface Phone Could Look Like

Microsoft’s next Surface device could be a foldable mobile tablet, if renders inspired by Redmond’s patent filing are anything to go by.

Designer David Breyer posted detailed images of 3D renders he’d made based on patent filings Microsoft made last week which tease a foldable mobile device.

While we have to take such renders with a pinch of salt, there’s no denying that Breyer’s interpretation of the patent is eye-catching, showing a device that looks a little like a sleeker Nintendo 3DS crossed with Surface Pro and Surface Book design cues.

A lovely looking hinge awash with the type of industrial design one would expect of find on a MacBook Pro acts as a fulcrum for the foldable display to be wrapped around.

When the device is closed, a part of the screen runs along its side like the seam of a book and Breyer has it displaying notifications, such an email alerts and calendar notifications, which helps the device have a form-follows-function style of design.

Breyer has the Surface device sporting a USB Type-C port, which has been missing in Surface tablets and laptops until the recent Surface Book 2.

A Surface Pen appears alongside the Surface device, suggesting that it’ll be one of the main ways to navigate the gadget.

The renders do look like a solid interpretation of the patent Microsoft has filed, but there’s no guarantee that such a device will be made by Redmond, as the patent could merely be a prospective one such as those filed by Samsung and Apple that promise features and designs that never make it out of research and development stages.

But if Microsoft were to make such a Surface device then it could offer all manner if interesting functionality, from being a device for on the move productivity to a handheld gaming console with access to Windows based games and indy titles available through Steam.

We don’t reckon we’ll hear anything more on this until 2018, but there’s a slim chance such a Surface device could crop up in CES 2018 or MWC 2018 a month or so later.