Just when laptop design had seemed to reach a point of stagnation, the market responded with
2-in-1 and convertible form factors, which are now commonly found. So, what comes next? That is difficult to predict, though
Samsung is apparently fooling around with new form factors that we have not seen before, one of which is a laptop with a foldable display.
It's not clear exactly what kind of use case scenarios Samsung envisions, though it's not surprising to find out the company is focused on new display technology. Samsung is a major player in the display category. To that end, its Super AMOLED screens are some of the best looking around, in our hands-on opinion.
"Like foldable smartphones, Samsung is collaborating with display makers to develop laptops with foldable displays that will not just simply fold in and out but create new value and user experience, amid the changing market trends for laptops," said Lee Min-cheol, vice president at marketing for PCs at Samsung, according to The Korea Herald.
It's also not surprising that Samsung is interested in innovating in the PC space despite the success it's had in mobile handsets. After all, Samsung has its hands in multiple honey pots, from semiconductors and memory chips, to laptops and home appliances. Nevertheless, a reporter posed the question to Samsung.
Lee's response is that Samsung sells around 3.2 million PCs each year, mostly in Korea, the United States, China, and Brazil. Those territories account for nearly half of the entire PC market "so we will continue developing innovative PCs with partners like Intel, Microsoft, and KT," Lee said.
It will be interesting to see what 2019 holds, in terms of new designs. Just a few months ago, Microsoft Surface boss Panos Panay hinted at a dual-screen device
codenamed Andromeda. Potentially related patents said Andromeda would "blur the lines between mobile and stationary computing." So, we could see some new form factors emerge in the not-too-distant future.