Forget foldable phones, Lenovo just unveiled the world's first 'foldable PC'

While 2019 was being tipped as the year of foldable smartphones, Lenovo has taken a step ahead and unveiled the world's first 'foldable PC' on Tuesday. The device is a prototype ThinkPad that iterates the foldable tech already seen from phones on a much bigger scale. The company claims that the PC has been made for highly mobile, tech-savvy professionals who demand the best tools. The new foldable PC joins the premium ThinkPad X1 family, promising that the unprecedented portability will in no way compromise productivity and reliability.

The device will be of major help to professionals who travel frequently. It has a single OLED 2K display made in collaboration with LG Display that can fold in half and reduce its width by 50 per cent. Lenovo says that the weight of this PC is less than two pounds. 

ThinkPad has a 13.3-inch screen. In the normal laptop mode, the prototype comes with a 9.6-inch “half screen” that lets you use the bottom of the screen as a touch-based keyboard, secondary display, or whatever else you want. In case you want the traditional keyboard experience, you can connect the PC with the companion Bluetooth keyboard. The prototype also has a built-in IR camera for use with things like Windows Hello facial recognition, along with two USB-C ports for data and charging, stereo speakers, and what Lenovo promises will be “all-day” battery life.

The company claims that it has been working on the foldable PC for almost three years now, which is less than the eight years Samsung spent on Galaxy Fold. The latter was unveiled by the South Korean giant at an event in San Francisco earlier this year. It was supposed to be launched last month but was delayed after issues were reported with the screen. 

Lenovo has also launched a new sub-brand dedicated to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) called ThinkBook - starting with a new line of ultra-slim laptops. ThinkBook is specially designed for the SMBs buying consumer laptops for perceived design and price advantages. It allows growing firms to keep a competitive edge in attracting today’s young tech-savvy execs with cool looking yet cost-effective devices.