Asus unveils the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED with a 17.3" foldable screen, Intel's 12th-gen CPUs, up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB SSD, and more, coming in Q2 for a TBD price
and it's coming this year Eric Abent / SlashGear : ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED redefines the phrase ‘convertible laptop’ Roland Udvarlaki / Pocketnow : From 17 to 12 inches: meet the ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED Charlie Demerjian / SemiAccurate : Intel releases lots of hardware at CES TechEBlog : ASUS Reveals ZenBook 17 Fold OLED at CES 2022, a Foldable Tablet That Doubles as a 12.5-inch Laptop Usman Qureshi / iPhone in Canada Blog : Asus Unveils Zenbook 17 Foldable OLED Display Notebook at CES Ian Carlos Campbell / Input : Asus' ZenBook 17 Fold OLED is a jumbo foldable tablet and laptop Pradeep / MSPoweruser : ASUS announces Zenbook 17 Fold, the world's first 17.3-inch foldable OLED laptop João Carrasqueira / XDA Developers : ASUS is making a foldable Windows 11 tablet, the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED Zackery Cuevas / PCMag : Asus Joins the Foldable-Screen Revolution With New ZenBook 17 Fold OLED Matt Safford / Tom's Hardware : Asus' Zenbook 14X Space Edition Sports a 3.5-Inch OLED Screen on its Lid Jonathan Bray / Expert Reviews : The Asus ZenBook 17 Fold is set to change the way we use laptops forever Matt Safford / Tom's Hardware : Asus' Zenbook 17 Fold OLED Is Like a Giant Folding-Screen Phone Phillip Tracy / Gizmodo : Asus Just Took the Wraps Off of a Foldable PC, and It's Freakin' Huge Brad Linder / Liliputing : Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED is a foldable laptop-tablet hybrid Tweets: Tom Warren / @tomwarren : Asus has created a 17-inch foldable OLED laptop / tablet. The Zenbook 17 Fold OLED will be available in Q2, and I'm super interested to see what software work goes into this on the Windows side https://www.theverge.com/... https://twitter.com/... Chris Vickery / @vickerysec : They are using a slightly tweaked Vista background (w/different color scheme). That takes balls. That takes some serious balls. https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/... Joanna Stern / @joannastern : The Windows PC makers have gone crazy and it's awesome. https://twitter.com/... Jeff Nolan / @jeffnolan : I was skeptical of folding screens but have come around to the idea that they are going to drive a new generation off devices that would not have neem possible. Divorce yourself from the idea that these early efforts are the end game, designers are still figuring it out https://twitter.com/... @repaircoalition : Replacing your laptop screen can be difficult enough. But when THE WHOLE FREAKING LAPTOP IS A SCREEN, you're in serious trouble. Chalk this one up as a repairability nightmare. https://www.theverge.com/... Dieter Bohn / @backlon : I wish I could tell you that I believe this foldable PC is going to be good. I wish I could tell you that, but I cannot. https://www.theverge.com/... @jeffdlowe : Oh boy, this actually gets my attention quite a bit. https://twitter.com/... Tomi / @gadgetsboy : 👏🏾👏🏾 👏🏾 see innovation ... hi Apple 👀 https://twitter.com/... Jeff Atwood / @codinghorror : maybe I need to wait for folding laptops instead.. 😲 https://www.anandtech.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
Asus is bringing the foldable-screen format from phones into a larger Windows device category already being pursued by Lenovo’s 13.3-inch ThinkPad X1 Fold, but with a 17.3-inch panel that becomes a smaller laptop-style display when folded.
The launch makes screen size and usable software experience central to the category’s value proposition. Subsequent coverage of the Zenbook found a professional design and comfortable keyboard, while flagging a $3,500 price and software glitches, underscoring the trade-off behind the CES announcement.
First-order effects
- Asus adds a premium foldable PC to its Zenbook lineup, pairing a 17.3-inch OLED panel with Intel 12th-generation processors and a Q2 availability target.
- Prospective buyers gain a device designed to alternate between a large tablet-like screen and a more compact laptop form factor, though Asus has not set a price.
Second-order effects
- Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Fold faces a larger-screen rival, pushing foldable-PC competition toward display size, keyboard usability, and Windows execution rather than the folding mechanism alone.
- The later Zenbook review’s price and software criticisms make affordability and software polish immediate constraints on how broadly Asus’s format can compete with conventional premium laptops.
Third-order effects
- If vendors keep expanding foldable PCs from Lenovo’s 13.3-inch design to Asus’s 17.3-inch model, the category may segment around devices that substitute one flexible display for separate tablet and laptop screens.
- Apple’s reported interest in an 18.8- or 20.25-inch foldable MacBook indicates that larger foldable notebooks are becoming a continuing premium-hardware direction, although the supplied coverage does not establish mass-market demand.
The trend: Foldables are moving from phone-sized experiments into premium PCs, where larger flexible displays must justify high prices and software compromises.