After the all-screen front display, it looks like the next big thing in the smartphone industry is a foldable design. According to the latest reports, LG will be among the first tech giants that will introduce a new kind of mobile devices with bendable displays. A patent reportedly filed by the South Korean firm has been spotted online, showing what the company's first ever foldable smartphone that could morph into a tablet.

As reported by the Daily Mail, a patent filing submitted by LG and issued by the World Intellectual Property Organization has been leaked, which reveals the hybrid nature of the unnamed smartphone. The patent document states that the potential foldable LG device is a "mobile phone with a flexible display which can be folded in half."

If ever LG does come up with a foldable smartphone in the near future, there will be at least two variants of such device. This is due to the leaked patent having two different designs for the foldable LG handset. The first design depicts the flexible phone with a camera shown on the rear panel, and the phone details are displayed on the front panel once the device is folded. According to Android Authority, LG has already implemented an always-on setup for the display of its current flagships, and the patent design could be hinting on its counterpart for the upcoming foldable smartphone.

As per the second foldable design in the LG patent filing, there are only a few noticeable differences compared to the first. However, it is evident that the back portion of the hybrid device has a separate panel that can be slid to show the display details like the current time and date. Interestingly, this feature at the rear side of the foldable LG smartphone is transparent.

The patent document was said to be filed by LG in July 2017, and it took a few months for the filing to be revealed in public. Still, there is no guarantee that LG will push through with such product even as a patent was already submitted. Tech companies tend to file patents from time to time, especially when they come up with interesting design ideas, although these pitches often do not see the light of day.

It is all up in the air if LG will be able to launch a foldable smartphone in the future, or even as early as this year. For now, the anticipated flagship devices from LG this 2018 are the LG V30 successor and the LG G7, rumored to be out in the next few months.