Earlier this year, OnePlus appeared to be trying to steal the thunder of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 with its own foldable... But it was an elaborate prank advertising a 50% discount.

While this experience may make those coveting OnePlus-branded foldable handsets a bit more skeptical in the future, the Chinese company seems to be testing the waters in this area.

LetsGoDigital discovered a patent for a OnePlus foldable. This foldable is quite different from the options currently on the market, with a double-hinged tri-fold design that can stand up as a triangle or be fully unfolded into a long and tall tablet.

At first glance, this design may look a bit like the "Z"-shaped tri-fold design that Samsung is rumored to be working on. In reality, however, two-thirds of the foldable display remains on the outside, with one of the "G "s acting as a cover when the phone is in phone form. The phone is apparently held in place using a magnetic slider system that prevents it from folding back up during use.

According to the site, the phone will be slightly thicker than current smartphones, but still thinner than "Z"-type devices. However, the two hinges the device will use are different sizes, which, along with the thickness of the main display area, could cause the device to wobble when laid flat in its unfolded state.

Is two folds better than one? We won't know until we play with the prototype, but the use cases described by LetsGoDigital seem a bit flimsy at this point. Yes, the ability to switch between double and triple-sized screens might be useful in some situations. However, the patent also describes how the phone could be used by two people at the same time, with YouTube on one side and a messaging application on the other. To us, this kind of use sounds unlikely, even if someone wants it.

Given that it was the reliability of the hinge system that plagued Samsung with the original Galaxy Fold, is it worth adding a mechanical hinge for it? We'll have to wait and see for a while.

It is worth remembering, however, that many patents never make it from a theoretical idea to a commercially viable product. Even if OnePlus were to support folding, it might look very different from this.