This week Lenovo's Executive VP and President, Intelligent Devices Group provided the press with a sneak peek at prototypes of a Motorola smartphone with a rollable display, and perhaps more importantly, a next-gen Lenovo Notebook with a rollable, expandable display as presented in the video below.

Last month Patently Apple posted a report titled "Samsung Presented their First Demo of a Future Tablet with an Expandable Display Form Factor at Intel's Innovation 2022 Event."  Our report presented a video of Samsung's demo of their first expandable, rollable display tablet along with a video of Lenovo's ThinkPad X Fold that transforms a tablet to either a notebook or small desktop depending on how the user decides to use the device.

Foldable and expandable (rollable) displays are new form factors that have the potential of shaking up the industry and provide students and road warriors alike with new options beyond a laptop to get their work done.

While most Apple fans will stick with either a MacBook or iPad with Magic keyboard, I think that some will appreciate these new foldable tablets and expandable laptop display form factors that could bring a breath of fresh air.  

Apple is on record with patents illustrating that they're working on scrollable (rollable) devices and even a foldable iPad as a new hybrid MacBook form factor just in case they're forced to stave off competing products that are posing a threat to their standing products. Apple could also be waiting for the various technologies behind these new form factors to mature so as to ensure that these form factors could be proven and highly usable.

While Samsung and Lenovo love to be ahead of the curve with experimental form factors, early generations of their devices are always riddled with hardware and software issues that anger early adopters. When Apple decides to release a new product, they take a holistic approach so that hardware and software deliver a smooth experience … well, most of the time.

The combination of sliding into a full-blown recession and computer components still difficult to secure in volume, now is not the time for Apple to jump into delivering a new iPhone or iPad form factor. For now, we see Apple continue to file for new patents regarding new form factors from a cool glass iMac to a glass MacBook to foldable and scrollable display form factors. It's just a matter of time. 

Every year Samsung and Lenovo continue their push into refining their next-gen form factors, and one of these days, they just might strike gold once the underlying technologies mature.