I’ve given LG a loooooot of money throughout the years. That’s because I’m unapologetically obsessed with the best OLED TVs the company makes. Well, it looks like the South Korean firm could well be draining my wallet again in the near future, thanks to the announcement of a seriously cool foldable laptop.
Though it’s only currently set to launch in South Korea, the LG Gram Fold already has me drooling (thanks, The Verge). This laptop / tablet hybrid is built around a 17-inch foldable screen. And the best part? Said screen is an OLED display.
Foldable laptops are nothing new, of course — this is a space Asus, HP and Lenovo have all entered. What’s notable about the Gram is the presence of some particularly intriguing features LG has teased in a recent press release.
According to the presser, “the company’s groundbreaking 17-inch Foldable OLED for laptops integrates a specialized material that minimizes creasing in the folding area of the screen. This results in a seamless display and crystal-clear picture quality, unlike conventional foldable panels.”
Obviously, it’s always a good idea to take press statements with a pinch of salt or two until the product they’re promoting actually launches. In this case though, I’m fully willing to board the pre-release hype train.
Going for Fold
LG has been the market leader in the OLED space for the best part of a decade. If the display on the Gram Fold is even half as impressive as the new LG OLED G3 TV I recently maxed out my credit card to buy, this laptop hybrid could be more than a little special.
The LG Gram Fold launches in its native South Kore on October 4, and will cost 4.99 million won (that’s roughly $3,700 / $3,050). Sadly, plans for an international release have yet to be announced, which is a situation I sincerely hope changes.
In terms of specs, the resolution on the Gram’s screen is 2560 x 1920, while the screen can hit a peak brightness of 500 nits (which is respectable in the laptop space). Naturally, these specs are further boosted by the infinite black levels OLED as a technology has long been famed for.
The LG Gram Fold also appears to be a particularly flexible device. In its fully folded out form, it can act as a 17-inch portable monitor or tablet. Yet when the time comes to embrace the folding aspect, it can be used as a 12.3-inch laptop, as the lower half of the display acts as a touchscreen. If you’d prefer a more tactile approach, it also comes with a physical keyboard.
In case you’re worried about durability, LG claims the Gram Fold can withstand up to 30,000 folding cycles; so there’s no need to wince every time you enter into crease mode. That's way less than a foldable phone like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5, which is rated for 200,000 opens, but you typically open and close a laptop much less.
In terms of its actual innards, proceedings are less exciting than that OLED display. This is a hybrid laptop with an Intel i5-133U processor, 512GB of storage and 16GB of RAM. It’s at least a pretty svelte device, though, weighing in at 2.7 pounds. You can also buy a stylus for the Gram Fold, though LG is selling that separately.
Let’s hope the LG Gram Fold gets an international release, because when it comes to OLED panels, LG remains the master. If the screen delivers as it should, this could become one of the best 2-in-1 laptops out there.
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