At Canalys Channels Forum last week, Lenovo finally revealed launch timeframe for its foldable ThinkPad X1 hybrid notebook that was first revealed in May. The company says that the machine is ready from hardware standpoint, but it needs its software partners to polish off their programs for the innovative unit.

Lenovo’s foldable ThinkPad X1 features a 13.3-inch OLED display featuring a ‘2K’ resolution that can be folded in half to fit it into a small bag. The hybrid notebook can be used in tablet, book, and clamshell modes to serve different purposes. It can also be attached to a stand or a dock for workloads that require a mechanical keyboard and a mouse. The foldable ThinkPad X1 uses an undisclosed Intel processor as well as Microsoft’s Windows operating system and is therefore compatible with a wide variety of software applications.

Image by Laptop Mag

Milanka Muecke, director of global commercial communications and brand at Lenovo, described the foldable ThinkPad X1 device as a fully-fledged PC that fits in the palm of a hand:

“I have it right here and you can have it in your purse. It looks like a leather bound notebook that you can carry with you all day long, but it is a full performance PC that fits in the palm of your hand.”

Lenovo now expects to ship its foldable ThinkPad in the second quarter of 2020, though it is unclear when it will be revealed from April to June (Note, June is Computex). From the hardware standpoint, the product is sound, but software still needs certain fixes, according to Gianfrano Lanci, COO of Lenovo:

“It will start shipping probably Q2 next year. […] Hardware is ready, but we need to still fix certain things from a software point of view and that does not depend 100% on us.”

The high-ranking executive of Lenovo does not expect foldable ThinkPad X1 to be an immediate bestseller (probably because of price and other factors), but as a new form-factor it will enable Lenovo to tap into emerging market segments. One of the obvious segments that the foldable ThinkPad X1 will address will be high-performance tablets like Apple’s iPad Pro. Meanwhile, Lenovo will ship its device several months before Microsoft’s launch of dual-screen Surface Neo that targets the same segment.

Related Reading:

• Lenovo Launches ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 7: Thinner, Lighter, Comet Lake Inside
• Lenovo’s 2019 ThinkPad X1 Yoga: An Ultralight Convertible with Comet Lake
• Lenovo Unveils ThinkPad P1 Gen 2: New 15.6-Inch Carbon Fiber Chassis
• Lenovo Unveils ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 2: New CPU, GPU, OLED Display Option

Sources: The Register, Laptop Mag, TechRadar