Yesterday afternoon we report that SAP and Apple are teaming up to help clients develop their own mobile business applications using Apple’s machine-learning technology. Apple is getting ahead of the next wave of notebooks supporting AI and Machine Learning that will be in play over the next year or two.

TSMC's 5nm processors for Apple iPhones will advance AR, AI Deep Learning (Machine Learning). Should Apple still be using Intel processors for Macs next year, as rumors say otherwise, they may take advantage of the processor and system supporting 5G connectivity, AI for notebooks and new form factors by 2020.

Project Athena will support dual display notebook designs as one of the new form factors, something that Apple patents tell us could be a possibility down the road (01, 02 & 03).

The image below, from an Apple patent, illustrates how a dual display MacBook could support a music centric user interface wherein half of that interface would spill over to where the traditional keyboard is positioned.

A dual display notebook illustrated in Intel's Athena Project video below shows a dual music App UI at the 0:44  mark.

Earlier today in a Project Athena Symposium in Taiwan, Intel's Josh Newman, VP & GM of PC Innovation Segments, shared details of Project Athena to 500 members of the PC ecosystem that will be making components and selling these next-gen notebooks.

With Project Athena, Intel has fundamentally changed its approach to innovation. Rooted in extensive research to understand how people use their devices and the challenges they face, Intel engineers and social scientists have developed a set of predefined key experience requirements designed to enable new experiences and capitalize on next-generation technologies, such as 5G and artificial intelligence, across the full PC platform in 2020.

Every component within a laptop affects the user experience, from power consumption to responsiveness and beyond. Enabling component vendor assessment, tuning and compliance at the Open Labs will help drive consistency in delivering the best technologies without compromise. Early alignment and enablement at the component level sets a strong foundation for OEM design readiness and implementation to help ensure systems meet Project Athena experience targets.

While some of the devices supporting Project Athena are set for second generation systems to launch in 2020, first generation Project Athena devices are reportedly set to debut in Q4 of this year.  Below are examples of Project Athena form factors as presented in our February report titled "Beyond Foldable Phones, Intel's new 'Lakefield' Platform will drive Different kinds of Next-Gen Foldable PC's."

One specific form factor from Intel Intel's 'Copper Canyon' as presented in our April 12th report that showed Microsoft patents supporting such a future Surface device.

New Apple form factors will help bring new innovation to the table and Apple fans are certainly looking forward to see what Apple could deliver under Project Athena – if they don't breakout with their own ARM based MacBooks in 2020.  

In the big picture, while Project Athena devices will begin to roll out in Q4 2019, the project will take years before it's fully realized. For instance, the concept of a Foldable notebook-like device is still two or more years away, according to Intel.

The Nikkei Asian Review is reporting today that Intel reportedly stated that foldable laptops were at least two years away. Joshua D. Newman, Intel's general manager of mobile innovation and vice president of the company's Client Computing Group, said earlier today on the sidelines of an Intel symposium in Taipei that its in early path-finding now, and we are trying to understand the capability and the limitation of the [foldable] technology."  

Intel sees 'potential' for foldable screen technologies to transform laptop user experiences, Newman said, but research that includes discovering which elements are relevant to end users remains at an early stage.

The American company also is researching the technology with leading global display makers such as LG Display, BOE Technology Group, Sharp and Samsung Display, a panel-making unit of Samsung Electronics, the executive said.

Newman said the difficulty surrounding the technology means it will take 'at least some two years' for the foldable laptops to reach consumers. But if the research signals a positive user experience, Intel and its ecosystem partners will accelerate the development of such products, he said.

The Intel executive's comments follow a recent decision by Samsung to delay the launch of its first-ever foldable smartphone, the Galaxy Fold, due to issues involving its organic light-emitting diode display."

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