At CES 2026 this year, Lenovo is clearly betting on the deep integration of "form transformation" and "AI agent" in its future laptop designs, thereby creating more application possibilities.
In the most prominent position of the exhibition area, although there was the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 14 Aura Edition which is about to be launched, what really made the media and tech enthusiasts stop and watch were two "scroll" concept machines that looked like they came from a science fiction movie. They were the ThinkPad Rollable XD Concept, which can be rolled up and down, and the Legion Pro Rollable Concept, which expands the display screen by extending left and right.
Both concept laptops are also equipped with Lenovo's new Qira AI service, allowing users to interact with the AI assistant through intuitive speech and other methods.
ThinkPad Rollable XD Concept: Resolving the contradiction between "large screen" and "portability"
At first glance, the ThinkPad Rollable XD Concept doesn't look much different from a regular ThinkPad laptop, retaining the iconic TrackPoint and a sleek black exterior. However, its most distinctive feature is its vertically extendable screen. When users need a larger display, they can extend the screen vertically by pressing and holding the top edge of the screen and using a swipe gesture.
The screen can be extended to a maximum of 16 inches, while maintaining a stable center of gravity even when extended, preventing the screen lid from wobbling significantly. The screen size when folded is 13 inches. A useful tip is to use the activation gesture to slightly extend the screen when the laptop is closed, allowing users to easily open the laptop lid with a single hand.
The screen itself is made of a flexible display panel, with Corning Gorilla Glass as protection. The surface has a certain degree of scratch and drop resistance. At the same time, because the screen extension mechanism is designed to resist external force, the screen cannot be forcibly pulled open or pressed down by hand during the extension process.
In addition, if the laptop is accidentally dropped during the screen stretching or retracting process, the mechanism will pause the screen stretching and retracting action to avoid causing further damage.
In addition to offering vertical extension and magnification of the display, the vertically extendable screen can even be used to continue using Lenovo's Qira AI service or display various real-time information when the laptop is closed. During laptop use, the external screen can also display content and even real-time translations to facilitate communication between users of different languages.
There is a high probability that this concept laptop will become an official product sold on the market. However, the specific launch date is still uncertain. Based on Lenovo's past concept designs that have become official products, they are usually launched within 1-2 years. This may mean that the ThinkPad Rollable XD Concept will soon be available to consumers.
Currently, the main way to control the vertical scrolling of the screen is by pressing and holding the top edge of the screen with your finger and then sliding left and right. However, Lenovo has stated that it will consider adding physical button controls to the retail version in the future, allowing users to operate the screen more intuitively.
Legion Pro Rollable Concept: An Immersive Experience That's Wider Than Ever
Similar to this design concept, Lenovo is using the stretchable screen design in its gaming laptops, allowing the Legion Pro Rollable Concept to use screens with a maximum aspect ratio of 25:9.
In normal use, the Legion Pro Rollable Concept can be operated through a 16:10 aspect ratio screen, and the screen can be stretched horizontally using a shortcut key. It can generally be stretched to a 21:9 aspect ratio, but can be stretched up to a 25:9 aspect ratio.
This design primarily aims to provide a more immersive gaming experience for users playing real-time strategy games or racing games that require a wider field of view. However, this design might also be quite convenient for professionals who need widescreen displays.
However, compared to the ThinkPad Rollable XD Concept, which has a high probability of becoming a commercially available product, the Legion Pro Rollable Concept currently has no plans to become a commercially available product. This is because potential issues such as the stability of the left and right screens still need to be resolved.
