Samsung has been working hard to make foldable smartphones mainstream by making them more affordable as the upcoming devices are expected to be priced lower than their predecessors. Apart from pricing, the features and functionalities also play a major role in making smartphones popular and Samsung has few tricks up its sleeves.

Earlier this month, the South Korean giant’s patent (via Patently Apple) revealed that Samsung could be working on a new foldable smartphone concept that uses special programmable function buttons and gestures. The illustrations filed along with the patent hints at the possible positioning of the button as well as the expansion of the feature to the flip-style phones.

While it’s not explicitly mentioned, the button is expected to be physical but they are implied by way of user gesture controls. Explaining this, Samsung says: “In one embodiment, the gesture input signal may be related to finger movements (for example, finger movement patterns). For example, a swipe gesture input signal may be generated through a swipe gesture.”

In another example, Samsung notes that the swipe gesture may be finger movements in the unfolded state of the electronic device involving touching a specific section of the first side surface 200c, moving in the positive y-axis direction or negative y-axis direction, and releasing. The swipe gesture enables key input signals to be sequentially generated through the first edge keys arranged on the first side surface 200c, and these key input signals may be recognized as a swipe gesture input signal.

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