This year we’ve seen the announcement of a number of phones with foldable displays from Samsung, Huawei and others. Now comes the first laptop with a foldable display from Lenovo.
So why does anyone need a foldable display in their laptop? Lenovo says that in the past, a 13.3″ screen on a laptop demanded that the device stay at that same size footprint —not so with this single OLED 2K display made in collaboration with LG Display that can fold in half and reduce its width by 50%.
With the choice between an on-screen or external keyboard, this can transform into a fully fledged laptop, but is certainly the closest thing we’ve seen to a digital book and an oversized Microsoft Courier.
In my mind, a foldable laptop display makes loads more sense than trying to do it with phones. We’re much more sensitive to changes in the thickness of phones as they have to fit comfortably in our pockets, while laptops are usually carried or popped in a bag. While I don’t expect it to be lighter, it would be a smaller (albeit thicker) form factor. In theory the smaller, more portable it is, the more likely we are to take it with us.
Here’s Lenovo’s idea of how it would be used.
- Wake up, fold it into a book, and start the day scanning your social media feeds in bed.
- Walk to your kitchen, unfold it, and stand it up for hands-free viewing of your top news sites.
- Hit your commute on the bus or train and morph it into a clamshell to catch up on emails.
- Get into the office, dock it into your multi-monitor setup and get to work.
- Go into meetings, take notes with its pen, and write on a full screen tablet.
- After lunch, set up the stand and use its mechanical keyboard to type out a few work emails.
- Come home at night, open it up and stream your favorite shows.
- Relax in bed, fold it in half and enjoy your latest read before going to sleep.
Stay tuned for full product details and availability in 2020.