Lenovo unveils prototype of bendable smartphones and tablets
In an effort to grow its business and overcome declining PC shipments and a competitive phone market, Lenovo is now adding experimental technologies to its smartphones.
Lenovo SVP and CTO Peter Hortensius at Lenovo Tech World 2016 in San Francisco showed off a prototype bendable phone that wraps around the wrist like an old-school slap bracelet, as well as a tablet that can be folded in half to use like a phone.
“Over the past two years Lenovo has been transforming, making major acquisitions in mobile and infrastructure to expand beyond our core PC business,” said Yuanqing Yang, the company’s chairman and chief executive officer. “I was told we’d better launch something pretty exciting.”
Screenwriter and producer Meghan McCarthy of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fame, seated in the audience, got up to exhibit the new technology. She wrapped a seemingly active phone screen onto her wrist. There was an audible cracking sound, but the screen snapped on like a huge wristband. Next, she moved on to a folding tablet with cat faces. She bent it in half and put the flexible screen next to her ear, pretending to make a call. However, this wasn’t all, as she showcased a tablet prototype which could be conveniently folded in two, in order to assume a more phablet-type shape and footprint.
Lenovo did not announce any names or potential release dates for its new flexible electronics, even though Hortensius mentioned that McCarthy should be careful with them because “they cost a little bit more than your average phone or tablet right now.”
It is expected that more details about Lenovo’s flexible smartphone and tablet may come out later during the conference.
