While the tablet market seems to be flattening out because consumers are currently opting for larger mobile phones, it seems that the competition between producers is heating up to come up with a Foldable product that would make the larger tablets or mobiles more physically manageable.
It was recently leaked that Microsoft is developing a foldable surface phone, while Samsung has been working a foldable device for a while now, although it announced that it would not be able to come up with the so called "Galaxy X" before 2019.
It seems that next company to enter the fray for a fresh new foldable product is the Chinese giant "Lenovo."
Will "Folio" bend it for "Lenovo"?
Lenovo recently held its third annual "Lenovo Tech World," and as a rabbit out of the hat, it presented the concept of a bendable laptop/tablet named "Fol." The concept, which is yet to be developed into a fully fledged product, caused quite a stir among the visitors, even though some time will pass before a finished consumer product hits the markets. The key comment was that making a foldable tablet/laptop screen is a much harder proposition than a foldable or wrappable mobile. Although Lenovo started with the development of this idea last year, this is the first time it unveiled the concept in public.
According to the given specifications, the tablet will have a 7.8-inch screen that is to produce a 1,920 x 1,440 resolution. The processor will be a Snapdragon 800, and the device will run the Android 7.0 Nougat operating system. At first glance, the specs seem a bit run of the mill, but the company is obviously aiming at the customers that will be interested in the foldable screen.
An d here the key lies in the fact that folding the tablet will turn it into a 5.5-inch mobile, a device that easily fits into a pocket. As envisaged by the "Folio" concept, the UI is supposed to adjust to working as if there are two displays automatically!
Foldable race is yet to heat up
The way this Lenovo concept stands, there might be some practicality problems it will have to resolve before the device hits the market.
The first and the more daunting one is how to fit all the necessary components so that the tablet will actually enable its users to do things like watch movies and read in a larger screen format, and the other, as remarked by some commentators, is that while the folded tablet can fit in a pocket size-wise, it might be a bit on a heavy side.
The other problem, of course, will be the fact Lenovo currently is not the only developer of a foldable tablet/mobile. With both Samsung and Microsoft in the race, the race will be a hard fought one, while who knows how many other companies will enter the race if they have not quietly entered it already.
