Lenovo has been toying with the idea of a flexible device ever since two years ago, when they came up with a prototype that turns into a bracelet, phone and tablet. Now they want to go further, having just patented a laptop with a foldable OLED display. You can see several sketches of it below.
We’ve seen TVs that are rolled up like a yoga mat and handsets able to flex down the middle, but a laptop? That’s new! We see the extra flexible bit appearing on the side of the screen, like a sort of window to prop open from the left side, using a special hinge. Lenovo’s documents mention a flexible OLED screen and the patent was filed with the WIPO, regarding an “Electronic Device With Flexible display with multiple viewing regions”.
It was published on April 19th 2018 and if you continue to look further within the documents, you will discover that the two sides of the screen open up like windows, expanding the space even more, like book covers. The screen can also be folded backwards and a 360 degree image can thus be projected for the user. It can be ideal for school work, presentations in the office environment and more.
It’s not very clear if all areas of the screen are touch sensitive or not. There’s also a camera and microphone embedded in both folding screen parts. The patent also notes that the same technology can be applied to smartphones or other devices. An extra image of the product shows that the flexible screen can be separated from the keyboard. These components are connected via special connectors (I know it sounds weird) and users and expand the display as they please.
You will be able to select the user mode, like a standard mode, presentation mode, tablet mode, dual monitor and more.
