Dell’s flexible display concept hints at a bendy laptop future

We’re only a few days in, and 2020 is already shaping up to be the year of flexible displays. And smartphone makers aren’t the only ones experimenting with bendable screens. 

Dell is the latest company to take a stab at new form factors, with two new experimental concepts: the Ori, a foldable tablet concept, and Duet, a dual-screen laptop prototype.

Both are still just experiments for now, and Dell executives were quick to caution that they’re in the early days of understanding new form factors, but the prototypes offer an intriguing look at how traditional laptop makers are thinking about adapting to new materials and designs.

The Ori is a large, fold-up tablet that closes shut like a traditional notebook. At CES, it was running Windows and had some multitasking features working, like the ability to run two apps side by side or in multiple windows. 

You can also run a single app in either landscape or portrait orientation to take advantage of the full screen, though it felt a bit awkward to navigate a single Word document on the extra-large display. 

The hinge and display felt surprisingly good for a concept device. You can see a hinge on the bezel, but there’s no gap between the hinge and the display (unlike with the Motorola Razr) and there’s hardly any discernible ripple on the display over the hinge area, though you can feel something if you run your fingers directly over it.

“The science of this is very intriguing, and I think we have a better handle on how to make it reliable,” says Dell’s Preeth Srinivasan, who works in the company’s experience innovation group. He says they have tested the Ori to 15,000 folds, but that they’d like to get that number a bit higher. 

Even so, it’s not clear exactly how flexible displays make sense in the context of a laptop or laptop-like device. But Dell’s Duet concept, also on view at CES, might offer some hints. The prototype dual-screen device looks a little more like a typical laptop. 

The Duet has a big hinge and dual-touchscreens. And, like Microsoft’s foldable Surface Neo, you can add an optional keyboard accessory for typing.

Apps can run individually on each display or across both for a longer, if interrupted, scroll. 

Overall, the Duet definitely feels more like the beginning of an idea than a fully baked product. The keyboard attachments don’t feel like something I’d want to type more than a few sentences on. But it also feels pretty damn cool to have two screens to play with, and software makers could no doubt find some creative ways to take advantage of the extra real estate. 

Again, both the Duet and Ori are just concepts, as Dell is also still trying to figure out exactly how flexible and dual-screen devices could fit into its future. But the prototypes are yet another sign that we’re starting to move toward a future where everything is foldable.