LG hops on the foldable laptop bandwagon with the new Gram Fold

TL;DR: Well, that didn’t take long. Shortly after LG Display announced plans to start mass-production of its 17-inch foldable OLED panel, LG Electronics introduced its first foldable laptop.

The LG Gram Fold is powered by a 13th Gen Intel Core i5 processor alongside 16 GB of LPDDR5 RAM and a 512 GB NVMe SSD. It is equipped with a 17-inch QXGA+ (1,920 x 2,560 resolution) OLED touch display with a 4:3 aspect ratio that meets 99.5 percent of the DCI-P3 color gamut. It functions as a giant tablet when laid out flat but transforms into a 12.2-inch laptop when folded at the crease.

Speaking of, LG said the laptop passed a fold test consisting of 30,000 open and close cycles. That is far fewer than the 200,000 cycles Samsung subjected its Galaxy Fold to, but laptops on average are opened and closed far fewer times per day compared to a smartphone.

LG didn’t flat out say the Gram uses LG Display’s recently announced foldable OLED, but all signs point to that being the case.

LG’s latest additionally packs a three-speaker audio system with Dolby Atmos, and a 72 Wh battery. The system measures 378.2 mm x 280 mm x 9.4 mm (14.89 in x 11.02 in x 0.37 in) and weighs just 1,250 grams (about 2.8 pounds).

Like HP with its Spectre Foldable PC, LG will be selling the Gram Fold in limited (numbered) quantities to “add value.” With two companies having announced similar products in limited quantities, one could assume that perhaps the displays used in these machines are scare… or maybe they simply want to test the market and price point before going all in.

Pricing is set at 4.99 million won, or just shy of $3,700, although the first 200 customers can nab a discount that brings it down to 3.99 million won or about $2,950. That is still far from what most would consider affordable, but it’s a lot cheaper than HP’s sorta similar Spectre Foldable PC which starts at five grand.