Samsung granted patent for banana-shaped ‘spy phone’

Samsung has been awarded a patent for a mysterious banana-shaped smart device – a gadget that looks more at home in an Austin Powers movie than on file at the US Patent and Trademark Office.

Granted patent approval on June 27, the odd design was noticed by Patently Apple who wondered if the South Korean tech giant was working on a new secret agent smartphone.

The application, filed back in September 2015, is described as “an ornamental design for a display device.”

It includes drawings of the gadget from seven different angles, each showing examples of icons that could be laid out on the surface.

Samsung clocked up the highest number of granted US patents in 2016 with a whopping 8,551 successful applications.