Today, Lenovo announced the next-generation ThinkPad™ X1 Fold that redefines the foldable PC category that Lenovo created in 2020. The new ThinkPad X1 Fold is designed to offer full PC performance with a larger screen area, while maintaining the ultra-portability that the original ground-breaking device offered. As the world’s lightest 16-inch commercial laptop device1, this next generation delivers a versatile, powerful and portable device – with a sleeker and thinner design that can be comfortably used as a primary PC. Improving on a category-defining PC is not easy, but Lenovo’s done just that. Through a combination of customer feedback and end user insights, the innovative design features a 22% larger 16-inch folding OLED display, 25% thinner chassis, and thinner bezels all around to produce a premium, streamlined look and feel that extends to the aluminum frame and a back cover made from 100% recycled woven performance fabric.
When building a next-gen device, there’s the advantage of learning from a solid base of customer experience and a groundswell of user input. This insight has served Lenovo well in defining four primary areas where the experience must be flawless: performance, keyboard, display and design.
Next-generation foldable experience
Powered by Intel vPro®, an Intel® Evo™ Design with up to 12th Gen Intel Core™ i7 processors, and Intel Iris Xe Graphics, the next-gen ThinkPad X1 Fold delivers superlative performance in a foldable form factor. Add SSD storage up to 1TB2 and memory options up to 32GB LPDDR5 mean Windows 11 Home or Pro will run brilliantly regardless of the preferred mode of use.
A positive and familiar typing experience on a device designed to be a primary PC is vital. The next-gen ThinkPad X1 Fold offers an optional full-size backlit ThinkPad keyboard, with TrackPoint and large haptic touchpad, which works attached or detached from the PC depending on the mode. The keyboard can magnetically attach to the lower half of the display for a classic laptop mode giving a full performance, 12-inch laptop experience.
More screen real estate means more productivity, and hybrid working styles have only further highlighted a greater need for screen space. The new ThinkPad X1 Fold delivers more space in spades, and the display adapts to however users wish to use it. The ultra-bright folding OLED panel is 16.3 inches with a 4:3 aspect ratio offering maximum space in a lightweight package, with the versatility to be oriented in portrait or landscape modes, and of course folded. It can be configured with optional magnetic-attach pen utilizing Wacom protocol. Impressively, the new ThinkPad X1 Fold can stream shows, movies and sports up to 600nits HDR brightness and in Dolby Vision® where supported.
The look and feel of devices are becoming increasingly important as users seek designs that express more personality and generate a more emotional connection to technology that is so often the backbone of daily lives. Designing a foldable PC with narrower bezels, a larger display and get thinner overall without compromising durability, is not without engineering challenges. The new ThinkPad X1 Fold exhibits narrow bezels no more than 10mm and measures just 8.6mm thin unfolded with an astonishing folded thinness of just 17.4mm. Like all ThinkPad laptops, the ThinkPad X1 Fold has been through Lenovo’s stringent testing methods in addition to MIL-STD-810H standards to maximize durability and reassurance. Even the 100% recycled woven performance fabric cover underwent a multitude of durability and reliability testing.
Maximum versatility with minimum fuss
Lenovo continues to innovate more usage modes and this is where foldable PC technology comes into its own. The next-gen ThinkPad X1 Fold truly does shape the future by providing the screen real estate and viewing experience of a 16-inch laptop in half the footprint of clamshell laptop alternatives. It conveniently folds down to the size of a sub-13-inch laptop for lightweight and compact carry and storage. Such an innovative design brings exceptional versatility to transform to the users’ needs and deliver one of the most compelling computing experiences ever made. Productivity, collaboration, content consumption, reading, writing, editing, and so on are all a breeze in whichever mode one feels most comfortable with. The modes managed by an intuitive Mode Switcher interface are: