Lenovo shows off ThinkBook VertiFlex laptop and Smart Motion dock concepts at IFA – rotating displays and AI-powered docks that follow your every move

Lenovo is not a company that likes to play it safe when it comes to its products. It consistently pushes the boundaries of what form factors are possible with its products, as seen in the eye-catching ThinkPad Plus G6, which features a rollable screen.

As Lucas Rossi, Executive Vice President of Lenovo and President of the Intelligent Devices Group, told us in a roundtable discussion at IFA, "I think we have the credit for the company that takes more risks. Meaning, we try, we experiment, and there are… projects that never see the light. But many times, the experiments that fail seed for the experiment that makes it happen."

Lenovo showed off its first foldable laptop concept in 2017. At the time, the ideas and technology behind that foldable project couldn't immediately be incorporated into a production product. However, the intellectual property would eventually find its way into the Moto Razr smartphone, "which is now selling in the millions," according to Rossi.

With that in mind, it's possible that we'll see the fruits of Lenovo's labor with the ThinkBook VertiFlex Concept and Smart Motion Concept in future products.

Lenovo ThinkPad VertiFlex has a display that rotates from landscape to portrait mode

With a few exceptions, the aspect ratio of a laptop’s display is fixed. In modern laptops, you’ll find laptop displays that usually have a 16:9, 16:10, or 3:2 aspect ratio in a landscape orientation.

However, the ThinkBook VertiFlex, which leaked last week as “Project Pivo,” features a 14-inch display that can rotate without you needing to stow the keyboard (like a 2-in-1 convertible). Instead, the lid contains a pivot point that allows the screen to rotate from its standard landscape orientation to portrait mode. And there are no motors involved. You just grab the corner of the screen and pull it up until it pivots into vertical mode.

Lenovo says that this capability for an on-demand portrait mode allows the display to become more ergonomic, letting you see more text on the screen when editing documents or displaying code. The portrait mode also comes in handy when mirroring your smartphone to your laptop using Lenovo’s Smart Connect software. Then, when you want to watch a movie or play a game, you just pivot the screen back into its default landscape orientation.

The switch (in software) from landscape to portrait is instantaneous, and the ThinkBook VertiFlex is still in ultrabook territory, weighing just 3.06 pounds with a thickness of just 0.7 inches. That’s not as thin or light as the best ultraportable laptops, but it’s not too far off.

Lenovo’s Smart Motion Concept is a dock with AI aspirations

Computer docks are usually pretty dull. Typically, they’re in a long rectangular or stubby book-shaped form factor and sit on your desk to connect your various peripherals, laptops, and storage devices. The Smart Motion Concept still has that standard dock functionality, with the usual assortment of USB, video, and Ethernet ports, but it also serves as a stand for your laptop.

But Lenovo adds a dash of AI to its Smart Motion Concept by using your laptop’s built-in webcam and a motorized gimbal system to track your head movements and alter the position of your laptop, in conjunction with the stand, to keep it at the peak of ergonomic efficiency using a motorized gimbal system.

The dock can even take input from your laptop’s microphones to track where your voice is coming from when you’re speaking.

It's eerie to see the Smart Motion Concept working in person as it turns and adjusts its height as you move from side to side or up and down. In practice, it works similarly to last year’s Lenovo Auto Twist AI PC concept. But building this functionality into a dock makes more sense, since you won’t have to toss out all those expensive motors and the motion tracking when it’s time to upgrade to a new laptop.

There’s no guarantee that either the ThinkBook VertiFlex Concept or the Smart Motion Concept will make it to production. However, compared to some of the more outlandish concepts we’ve seen in the past, both concepts should have relatively little resistance in the on the potential path to production and a product you can actually buy.