(Photo/Courtesy of Lenovo)
Lenovo released the world's first laptop prototype with a foldable screen, waging competition against international rivals including Samsung and Google.
The prototype was released on Monday during the Accelerate conference held in the US state of Florida.
The prototype released was the latest addition to the ThinkPad X1 series, and is due to be available in the market in 2020, according to a report by sina.com on Tuesday.
Designed for the convenience of professionals, the prototype is equipped with a screen co-produced by LG Display, which can be folded in half thus significantly reducing the space of the model, according to Lenovo's statement.
The statement also claims that unlike some of the foldable phones or tablets, the new model is a full functionally laptop installed with Intel processors and a Windows operating system to fulfill the demands of users.
The market of foldable screens has become very competitive. Huawei introduced its first 5G foldable phone on February 24 in Barcelona, Spain. In April this year, Samsung followed suit by releasing its foldable phone called Galaxy Fold, but it was soon criticized over defective screen problems including bulges or cracks on the screens.
Google is also reported to be working on foldable devices, according to a report by cnet.com on May 7, but the company is not rushing to put any foldable products into the market at the moment, the report said.
Wang Yanhui, secretary-general of the Mobile China Alliance, told the Global Times that foldable devices might be the future of digital gadgets.
"In terms of hardware innovation, there haven't been many breakthroughs except foldable screens," Wang said.
"With time there is huge potential in the market. That is why everyone is in the competition and no one wants to be left behind."
