Samsung and Huwaie had launched the first foldable phone in 2019. They are not the only flexible screen in the town after Lenovo briefly demoed foldably pad ThinkPad X1. Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 folding screen prototype is the next word in flexible display devices bigger than the Samsung Galaxy Fold. Lenovo has been developing this for over three years and has plans to launch a finished device in 2020 as part of its premium ThinkPad X1 brand.
Lenovo Thinkpad X1
There, companies like Samsung and Huawei are trying to take a device the size of a regular phone and make them bigger. But the idea behind the folding ThinkPad is to take a full-sized PC and make it smaller. Lenovo shows what happens when you use the same technique to the bigger screen and more powerful hardware. ThinkPad X1 has 13 inches 4/3 OLED 2K display. It looks like large windows Slate or iPad pro when fully opened. When you folded over you will see the 9.6-inch screen along with the same size onscreen keyboard on the bottom half.
Lenovo is envisioning a variety of use cases. You can use it completely unfolded like a large tablet or partially folded in a book-esque form factor. A built-in kickstand lets you prop up the display on a table for use with an included wireless keyboard and trackpad. There are also plans for cellular support of some kind, a bundled Wacom pen (which clips to the front of the device, and slides forward to the side when unfolded), and it’ll charge over USB-C.
There’s no price, no release date, and only unfinished hardware to look at. Still, it’s an ambitious idea, and it’s encouraging to see that Lenovo is pursuing folding technology so quickly for larger devices than phones.