Asus folding laptop will reportedly arrive in Q2 2022, but held back by the "lack of optimized OS"

2 min. read

Published on January 6, 2022

published on January 6, 2022

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Zenbook 17 Fold OLED_UX9702_Versatile modes

We reported two days ago thatIntel was once again pushing for folding laptops for 2022, with companies being encouraged to use their “horseshoe” folding laptop chassis updated for 2022 to bring the new class of devices to market rapidly.

We also saw Samsung’s Flex Note which appeared to be based on the same platform, with a 17.3-inch tablet folding into a 13-inch clamshell. Yesterday another similar design by Asus, the Zenbook 17 Fold, was launched at CES 2022.

According to Ross Young from Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC), the device will use a BOE flexible display and will hit the market in Q2 2022.

Unfortunately Young reiterated the same concerns that we have and which has prevented the release of folding screen notebooks in the past. He noted that the market is still nascent due to a “lack of optimized OS”, and we have yet to see what Microsoft has been doing with Windows 11 behind the scenes to address the issue.

The Zenbook 17 Fold features a large 4:3 17.3-inch 2.5K touchscreen that folds in the middle to create two 3:2 12.5-inch 1920×1280 displays. The foldable display is also TÜV Rheinland-certified for eye care, supports 100% DCI-P3 gamut and Dolby Vision HDR certified. You can use it with ASUS ErgoSense Bluetooth keyboard and touchpad for regular typing experience.

Zenbook 17 Fold features Dolby Atmos with quad-speaker Harman Kardon-certified sound system. The HD IR camera supports Windows Hello and the new Intel Visual Sensing Controller chip enables features such as user-presence detection. It comes with an integrated color sensor for automatic adjustment of screen brightness and color temperature; and a 5 MP webcam with ASUS 3D Noise Reduction technology for clearer video calls.

The laptop is powered by the latest 12th Generation Intel Core i7 U-Series processors, Intel Iris X^e graphics and two USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports, with fast charging support of the 75 Wh battery.