Three years ago, Lenovo surprised everyone by unveiling a soft-screen smartphone that could turn into a wristwatch. Three years later, the product is still not out, but the Chinese brand has filed new patents, proof that the concept is not abandoned.
Until then simple gadgets, the connected watch is generalized; the arrival of Chinese manufacturers has helped lower prices and offer a real alternative to the Apple Watch. Among these manufacturers, there is Lenovo, especially known for its computers since the brand bought the PC branch of IBM. It is a guarantee of quality, but in contrast, in the smartphone market, the brand does not take off.
Maybe because it wants to move towards all-in-one devices, and TigerMobiles has also got their hands on patents filed in China in late August: they show a smartphone project that turns into a watch! On the sketches, we can distinguish a long smartphone and its flexible screen can then twist to place it around the wrist.
A first concept unveiled in 2016
By looking closely at each drawing, there seem to be several ideas in the works to turn into a wristwatch, with an external fastening system to go around the wrist. We could choose between using it as a real watch that attaches or as a bracelet.
This is not the first time that Lenovo has been studying this track and maybe it’s new designs for its C Plus, a collapsible smartphone unveiled in … 2016, then reappeared in 2018. Never commercialized, it had bluffed everyone at his Tech World. The device ran on Android with a 4.3-inch screen and the notched hull, leather, allowed to wrap around the wrist. It was bulky, but it had made its effect without leading to marketing.