Microsoft could soon be set to enter the smartphone hardware race with a number of newly outed patent applications detailing the company’s plans for two sided display touting handsets.

The patent applications, filed with the United States Patent and Trademark office, have showcased the potential for a futuristic handset that, as well as boasting the now standard touchscreen display on the front, touts a back panel that acts as an interactive and customisable display.

With the second, rear-mounted display acting much like an E Ink offering and requiring much less power than its vibrant counterpart on the front, the patent has detailed how it could be used to offer users a wide variety of information such as the time, message alerts and even customisable logos.

Requiring a second, smaller processor, the rear-mounted display technologies are unlikely to appear on any handsets of the near future but pose a tantalising insight into the possibilities currently being explored by leading tech manufacturers.

Would you like to see a dual-screened handset hit the market or do you consider such technologies unnecessary faff? Let us know via the T3 Twitter and Facebook feeds.

Via: BGR