Laptop ushered in a folding tide？

 

  Folding screen has become another innovative attempt of notebook computer terminal form.

    "After opening and closing, the screen is flat as a mirror, and the picture seems to flow with a three-dimensional effect. The virtual keyboard on the screen is smooth to touch, and it can be presented in different forms such as book, computer, flat and upright …" At the new display innovation exhibition of the 2022 World Display Industry Conference, the reporter’s eyes were attracted by the first 17.3-inch ultra-large folding OLED notebook product exhibited by BOE, which brought more shock than the folding screen mobile phone.

    Folding screen notebook computer is not only another milestone product in the field of flexible OLED display, but also another innovative attempt in the form of notebook computer terminal, which brings more interaction possibilities for office and entertainment. Since Lenovo launched its new products in 2020, and Lenovo updated its second-generation products and ASUS launched its new products in the second half of this year, the popularity of folding screen notebook computers has been rising. Whether this category that breaks the boundary of vision is a dazzling enterprise skill or a long-term layout with profound meaning is unknown, but the era of folding large-screen display is accelerating.

    Folding into the era of big screen

    In October 2020, Lenovo officially released the ThinkPad X1 Fold, the world’s first notebook computer with folding screen, which was quite epoch-making at that time when the folding screen mobile phone had not yet opened the market. The folding screen of this product is made up of five layers of screens stacked, and with the hinge design of folding shaft, it has passed the durability test of opening and closing for more than 30 thousand times.

    In October this year, Lenovo released a new ThinkPad X1 Fold 2022 product. Compared with the first generation product, the biggest change this time is the use of a drop-shaped structural hinge design. Through the movable inner and outer double-layer skeleton design, the shear stress generated by the cross section during folding is greatly offset, so that the screen can still be kept as flat as a mirror after repeated opening and closing. It also achieved "evolution" in the thickness of the fuselage, which was only 17.4mm thick after folding.

    However, the folding screen notebook computer product is not exclusive to Lenovo. Asustek also launched a folding screen notebook Zenbook 17 Fold on August 31 this year. From the product form, there is not much difference between Lenovo and Asustek’s folding screen. The main difference is the screen size, folding form, hinge and other details. Subsequently, ASUS released the Lingyao X Fold product at the autumn new product launch conference in September. The 17.3-inch flexible OLED screen can be bent from the middle to two 12.5-inch screens, and the 180 precision hinge design supports free hovering, which can realize 6 kinds of use forms. The fuselage is as light as about 1.5kg, and the thinnest part is about 8.7 mm. Plus the folding ability, it can be easily carried in a bag.

    At present, the price of the above products is about 10,000 to 20,000 yuan. It is reported that Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Samsung are also increasing research and development, and Apple is also paying attention to the research and development of 20-inch folding screen notebook computers, which proves that head manufacturers are optimistic about the folding screen notebook computer market.

    Canalys, a market research organization, told reporters that there are few participants in the market now, but the equipment available has proved to be reliable. Folding screens are expected to increase dramatically in the next few years. The main driving factors behind the development of such devices are that people tend to use larger screens, and people constantly switch tasks and roles during work and leisure. Folding screen laptops make people not have to switch back and forth between different tools.

    The development of folding morphology is relatively slow.

    Different from the problem of screen creases that people were most concerned about at first, notebook computer products have larger screen size, wider rotating shaft and larger bending radius in the folded state, and the technology is gradually mature, so the problem of screen creases is not the most obvious.

    The reporter learned that the 17.3-inch flexible OLED screen of ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold has a bending radius as low as 5mm, which ensures that the screen is light and thin, and makes the screen flat as a mirror in the unfolded state. The screen adopts a new generation of composite cover plate solution, which improves the mechanical properties of the screen, greatly improves the impact resistance of the screen while taking into account the size upgrade, and makes the durability get a breakthrough upgrade. At the same time, in terms of screen performance, the screen ratio is as high as 95.87%, which supports touch mode and is compatible with active pen function.

    Even though the technology of folding screen mobile phone has been polished, the folding screen technology used in notebook computers has taken a little detour, but the challenge of low yield and high cost still exists.

    Li Yaxuan, research director of IT Division of Sigma Intell, told reporters that the development of folding forms in notebook computers is still very slow, the market scale is very small, and the market penetration rate is only 0.02%. Looking forward to the future, folding screens will continue to develop in the medium-sized market, but it is estimated that by 2025, the penetration rate of folding screens in the notebook computer market will only reach 0.12%.

    It can be seen that although the main brands continue to lay out folding screen notebook computer products, folding screen products are still difficult to become an important development direction in the short to medium term, and most of them are concept products or limited products.

    Folding still has a long way to go.

    The reporter summarized the feelings of buyers and experiencers of folding screen notebook computers, and found that people agreed that folding screen design is indeed a path worth exploring, but there is still room for improvement in system stability and functional adaptation of different folding forms, and there is still a need to create bright spots in product volume, battery life, performance and portability.

    Canalys, a market research organization, believes that folding screen notebook computers need to go through a development process, such as the adaptation of unconventional screen keyboards, the design of new screen hinges, more mature customized new operating systems, multi-tasking functions, CPU and GPU performance, and longer battery life. In addition, how the traditional software and operating system match these devices in different usage modes, and whether the devices can be seamlessly switched between different modes.

    "Project Athena" is another major project for notebook evolution announced by Intel after "Ultrabook", which will guide a new round of changes in the notebook computer industry in the next few years, and the direction of changes is mainly reflected in six dimensions: immediate response, performance and responsiveness, artificial intelligence performance, battery life, connectivity and shape design.

    According to the industry, the "Athena Project" included folding screen laptops and began to manufacture chips specially designed for these devices. The reporter learned that Intel has recently introduced the Hybrid Lakefield processor suitable for folding screen notebook computers. By stacking memory, CPU and graphics chips with each other, these chips are provided in smaller packages, so that manufacturers can design equipment with smaller and more interesting shapes.

    In addition, Microsoft is developing its Windows 10X operating system to run seamlessly on dual-screen computers and folding-screen laptops.

    Chen Shuxin, assistant research director of IDC China, told reporters that in the short term, the use scenarios and corresponding crowds of folding screen notebook computers are still relatively few, and the price is relatively high, which is still in the testing stage, but it can give consideration to portability and large screen, and there is still a certain development prospect in the future, mainly relying on the exploration of future use scenarios, the price can be lowered, the interaction of folding screens and software problems, and there is still a long way to go. (Reporter Lu Mengqi)