We're one step closer to knowing when to expect the first laptops with foldable displays. Lenovo revealed that its foldable ThinkPad X1 device will be available in Q2 of 2020, as first reported by The Register.
Lenovo's chief operating officer, Gianfrano Lanci, reportedly said at Canalys Channels Forum in Barcelona that "It [the foldable ThinkPad X1] will start shipping probably Q2 next year." That "probably" leaves room for error but if everything stays on schedule then Lenovo would beat Microsoft's Surface Neo (launching Fall 2020, or Q3) to market. However, it's worth pointing out that this doesn't necessarily mean it will be the first of its kind; Asus, Dell and HP were all listed by Microsoft as vendors that are working on their own foldable or dual-screen devices.
The COO later explained that the "hardware is ready, but we need to still fix certain things from a software point of view, and that doesn't depend 100% on us." The foldable ThinkPad X1 will run on some version of Windows, most likely Windows 10X, Microsoft's new pared-down operating system designed specifically for 2-in-1 devices and those with unique form factors.
We were lucky enough to spend some hands-on time with a prototype of Lenovo's foldable ThinkPad X1 and were pretty amazed by what the company had accomplished. The foldable has a 13.3-inch OLED display with a 2K resolution, or two 9.6-inch displays when folded in half. And a unique torque hinge allows the device to bend in all sorts of ways.
As much as Lenovo presumably wants to be the first to market, Samsung's underwhelming Galaxy Fold smartphone proves that it's better to delay the launch of a product until all the kinks have been ironed out. We trust Lenovo will take those steps and that this foldable-screen revolution everyone is talking about takes off with the first device.
