According to a new patent filed by Samsung Display, the Samsung Galaxy S30 may feature a display with four curved surfaces.

Discovered by LetsGoDigital and drawn by Jermaine "Concept Creator" Smit, the patent (PDF) shows what one might call a natural extension of Samsung's "Edge Display" design. It was filed in July 2019 by Samsung Display, a separate division of the Samsung family from cell phone maker Samsung Mobile, but the two divisions have worked closely together in the past.

Anyone who has seen the recently unveiled Huawei P40 Pro will recognize this style of screen, known in Huawei terminology as an "overflow display."

Hands-on with the P40 Pro, the four edges are slightly curved, giving it a nearly bezel-less The soft angles combined with the curved back made it very pleasant to hold. Such a display is clearly manufacturable and may have been the impetus for Samsung to work on its own version.

Samsung's latest flagship smartphone series, the Galaxy S20 series, is the first Samsung flagship smartphone since the 2015 Galaxy S6 to not have curved left and right edges on the display, either as a default or optional feature.

The Galaxy Note 20 will be Samsung's next flagship model, but it is probably too far into the manufacturing process to take advantage of this patent. That would bring the Galaxy S30, which is expected to be at least as large as the 6.7-inch Galaxy S20 Plus, if not larger than the 6.9-inch Galaxy S20 Ultra, making it an even more difficult phone for many potential users to hold. It will be a more difficult phone for many potential users to carry.

The addition of the curved edges will make the S30 more ergonomic and help to reshape an important part of Samsung's brand identity, albeit one that divides reviewers, fans, and users.

This is just a patent, so even if Samsung implements this, it may still be years away. However, this design has already been successfully implemented by Huawei, so it is not out of the realm of possibility that this display feature will be included in next year's S30.