Lenovo announces world's first foldable laptop; 2020 launch expected

Huawei and Samsung launched their Mate X and Galaxy Fold respectively, making foldable phones a reality. But, Lenovo has taken it a notch higher with the announcement of the world's first foldable PC.

The latest addition to the Lenovo's Thinkpad X1 lineup, the device features a 13.3-inch LG-made OLED display with 2K resolution and an aspect ratio of 4:3. In order to prevent the display, the device folds inwards.

The biggest concern for the company is its display, as the outlets that received a hands-on of the functional prototype said the display was dim and had underwhelming viewing angles. However, this is unfinished hardware - Lenovo is expected to launch the device by 2020.

The foldable laptop is powered by an Intel processor, and also has support for cellular data. The laptop will also come bundled with a Wacom pen and a separate keyboard to improve productivity.

The device seems promising on paper, however, we've seen the Galaxy Fold criticized for its fragile nature. Lenovo also told The Verge that it's working to avoid the issues faced by the Galaxy Fold. The company is also working closely to make the functionality and reliability better.

Speaking of the software, the prototype seems to run Windows 10, but the company has confirmed that the final product won't be running Microsoft's OS. We might see new possibilities for software for the unique form-factor. Lenovo didn't reveal the pricing of the device, but it's expected to bring the device at a lower price.

The patent for this device surfaced in January this year. A lot of OEMs have patented their respective foldable devices including Samsung, Huawei, and most recently Apple.

"The device can transition from the closed orientation to the open orientation via the curvature of the fold region. The fold region can define a radius of curvature for the closed orientation of the device and can define a radius of curvature for the open orientation of the device. The device may be referred to as an asymmetrically folding display device because the display has the portion that spans the fold region," the company explains in the filing.