Three tech giants team up to build 'giant' laptops with flexible displays

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By Matthew Griffin Computing 24th March 2021

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF

Being able to fold screens and displays opens the door to new computer and smart device formats, and this is just the beginning.

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We’ve all seen Samsung and Huawei’s folding smartphones, and now Korean publication ETNews are reporting that Samsung, Intel and Microsoft are working together to commercialise folding laptops with each company providing an important component.

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The laptops are based on Intel’s “Horseshoe Bend” flexible display concept which sees a 17-inch folding tablet fold into a 13-inch laptop, with the bottom screen turning into a keyboard. Samsung Display would provide the folding screens, Intel the processor and Microsoft the OS adapted for the form factor.

The prototype being shown off at CES 2020

The Horseshoe Bend Project is open, and “17-inch panels will be supplied as standardized products to Lenovo, Dell, and HP” said a representative from the industry who is familiar with the Horseshoe Bend Project. “Foldable panel is expected to go into mass-production at the end of 2021.”

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While the screen, processor and OS will be standardized, the other elements of the laptops, however, will be open for OEMs to innovate on. And with the screens only being mass-produced later this year it seems likely the first products will only be launched in 2022, just in time for Microsoft to finish Windows 10x, their OS which was originally designed for folding screens, but which has now instead been adapted for standard laptops.

Matthew Griffin / About Author

Matthew Griffin, multi-award winning Futurist and named Futurist of the Year 2024, has been described as a "Walking encyclopaedia of the future" by NASA and a futurist polymath. One of the world's most renowned futurists and strategic foresight experts Matthew is the 15 times author of the blockbuster "Codex of the Future" series, and is the Founder and Futurist in Chief of the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures advisory firm working across the next 50 years, XPotential University, the world's first free futures and foresight university, and the World Futures Forum which works with the United Nations to solve the worlds greatest challenges. Matthew is an in demand international keynote, acclaimed university lecturer and mentor, and host of the hit Fanatical Futurist podcast.

A rare talent in his past Matthew helped build and run several multi-billion dollar business units for Atos, Dell-EMC, and IBM, and his ability to identify, track, and explain the impacts of hundreds of emerging technologies and trends on global business, culture, and society has earned him a powerful reputation and a roster of clients that include royal households, world leaders, G7, G20, and G77+ governments, and many of the world's most respected brands including ABB, Accenture, Adidas, AON, ARM, BCG, Centrica, Citi Group, Coca Cola, Dentons, Deloitte, Disney, Dow, EY, KPMG, Lego, Legal & General, LinkedIn, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Qualcomm, RWE, Samsung, T-Mobile, UBS, VISA, and many others. He was also the only futurist invited to talk at the UN COP28 held in Dubai alongside world leaders.

Regularly featured in the global media including the AP, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Discovery, Forbes, Khaleej Times, Telegraph, TIME, ViacomCBS, WIRED, and the WSJ, Matthews mission is to help organisations create a fair and sustainable future whose benefits are shared by everyone irrespective of their ability, background, or circumstances.