CES 2020: Lenovo launches the ThinkPad X1 Fold, the world’s first foldable PC

Teased in May last year, Lenovo has finally unveiled full details about its foldable PC at CES 2020. The ThinkPad X1 Fold is a fully functional PC with a folding OLED display that can morph through multiple modes.

You can use the ThinkPad X1 Fold as a small footprint device and also as a fully-flat 13.3-inch display. The X1 Fold promises to deliver laptop efficiency with smartphone portability. It is built with lightweight alloys and carbon fiber and comes with a leather folio cover.

Co-engineered with Intel, the X1 Fold is powered by Intel Core Processors with Intel Hybrid Technology and will initially be available with Windows 10 when it hits markets in mid-2020. Lenovo is planning on offering ThinkPad X1 Fold with Windows 10X at a later date. Furthermore, it will come with optional 5G connectivity support.

Lenovo says that they have designed the X1 Fold specifically for Windows 10 with clever mode-switching software to adapt to multiple use cases in new environments.

Unfolded, the X1 Fold is ideal for touch heavy content consumption with 13.3-inches of OLED display real estate and weighing less than 2.2 pounds (1kg). In landscape mode with the integrated kickstand in the leather folio case, users can review and annotate the latest presentation or use the Bluetooth Mini Fold Keyboard. When folded closed, the keyboard is stored and wirelessly charged inside the system and secured with magnets.

In portrait orientation, users can take notes or draw out concepts using the Active Pen or scroll through and sign documents. You can open out the screen and make it completely flat and use the X1 Fold as a tablet or bend it slightly to read it like a book.

In a more familiar laptop orientation, users can leverage two independent displays to optimise efficiency during certain multitasking activities. You can participate in a video call on the upper screen while reviewing and editing a presentation on the lower screen. Compare documents, one above the other or take notes on one screen while watching a lecture on the other. These use cases can of course be done in portrait or landscape mode, whichever suits the user best.

The X1 Fold can also be connected to a full-size keyboard and mouse and a second display via USB Type-C and quickly place the device in the optional ThinkPad X1 Fold Stand in portrait or landscape mode.

Is the X1 Fold up for all the folding and unfolding? We didn't see things work out too well with the Samsung Fold, so the suspicions are legitimate.

However, Lenovo says that after working through six different hinge designs and more than twenty different variations, they have created a multi-link torque hinge mechanism to manage stress during fold actions. The pOLED display used in X1 Fold has also undergone extensive durability testing to meet usability criteria in terms of tapping, tracing and dropping.

The ThinkPad X1 Fold with Windows 10 is expected to be available mid-2020 with prices expected to start at $2,499 ( ₹179506 approximately). The Windows 10X version is expected to be available at a later date.

The ThinkPad X1 Fold Stand is expected to be available in the second half of 2020 and the pricing will be revealed closer to launch date.