Samsung might be pushing the boundaries with a foldable device, but its handset design plans in the past have been even more extravagant.

The Samsung Galaxy Fold is already a little out-there in style, but a recently published patent shows the company's ideas don't stop at a phone that bends in the middle.

Posted on the World Intellectual Property Organization's website, the patent (found by LetsGoDigital) details a handset with a "continuous display".

The device is made up for three separate displays that, when combined, make a seamless single screen. It also means that the screen can wrap around the phone to provide a single experience that is visible front and rear - even on the top edge too.

The applications for this include the ability for a photography subject to see their own image selfie-style, while the owner takes the picture.

It is effectively a foldable phone but, unlike the Galaxy Fold, the screen is on the outside. Indeed, this is similar to the Huawei Mate X, which also folds with the display pointing out.

The Samsung concept folds over the top, however.

Of course, we might never see the patented product in the flesh. It was originally filed in 2016, in fact, so could have been ditched by Samsung before its recent approval.

Still, it's nice to see a whole host of crazy ideas are being explored before the industry settles on a foldable phone standard.