ASUS Unveils Foldable-Screen OLED Laptop That Stretches Up To 17” For Multi Uses

No longer just a gimmick, flexible displays are revealing themselves to be pretty useful. And now, ASUS is proving that their ability to be compact or wide on-demand can make work on the go a breeze; just pack one device, and you’ll be good to go.

At CES 2022, the tech brand presented a 17.3-inch foldable laptop hybrid, called the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED, that—like Mika’s idea of Grace Kelly, could be brown, blue, or anything you like. More specifically, a laptop, PC, tablet, electronic book, on-screen keyboard, and more.

Fully extended, the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED is a 17.3-inch 2.5K OLED monitor, with a 4:3 aspect ratio, that you can actually fit into your bag if you fold it. Plus, it only weighs 3.75 pounds, making it no heavier than many laptops out there.

Bent at the middle, it becomes two 12.5-inch displays of a 1,920 x 1,280-pixel resolution and 3:2 aspect ratio. All of a sudden, the model becomes “smaller than a sheet of photocopier paper,” says ASUS.

You can use the OLED display as one seamless, cascading screen, or look at multiple windows in a split view. The Zenbook comes built with a window management feature, via the accompanying ScreenXpert app, that lets you look at up to three screens at once. 

Additionally, a Mode Switcher app dynamically adapts to the device’s orientation, allowing you to easily switch between one full view, a dual view (like a laptop or book), or split the display into one larger view with two smaller ones.

Since the display is all touchscreen, the bottom half can also be converted into an on-screen keyboard. Admittedly, this mode isn’t that user-friendly, so the Zenbook will also be bundled with a physical ASUS ErgoSense Bluetooth keyboard and touchpad, bringing the total weight to 4.4 pounds.

Importantly, the laptop runs on the latest 12th Generation Intel Core i7 U-Series processors, makes room for two USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports, as well as boasts Dolby Vision HDR, a quad-speaker Dolby Atmos audio system, and Intel Iris Xe graphics delivery.

ASUS says the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED will launch in 2022. No pricing details have been released yet, though.

[via Gizmodo and How-To Geek, images via ASUS]