Lenovo’s ThinkPad Rollable XD turns a 13.3-inch laptop into a 16-inch portrait screen

Lenovo’s latest prototype rollable, the ThinkPad Rollable XD Concept, clearly demonstrates that Lenovo feels that rollable displays are the future — or if not the future, than a niche that it can serve while its competitors do not.

Yes, it looks familiar: the ThinkBook Plus Rollable debuted in 2025, extending the laptop’s screen vertically upwards by about 2.5 inches. Now, the ThinkBook Plus has given way to the ThinkPad Rollable XD at CES 2026, with a few tweaks to presumably make the laptop more accessible to corporate customers.

The key feature of the ThinkPad Rollable is that the extended display is functional in both modes, in both the “extended” configuration as well as in a “normal” laptop configuration. While in its compact “laptop” mode, the display actually wraps around the back of the laptop, creating a small rectangular screen a few inches on the rear of the ThinkPad Rollable XD. In this configuration, the rear display is protected by a Corning Gorilla Glass Victus cover, which allows the laptop to be stored in a backpack or carrying bag without harm to the display.

Lenovo also believes that the rear-facing screen could be used as a business tool, and the concept that the company showed reporters included such items as a calendar, various widgets, and potentially an ongoing translation of what the speaker was expressing in a different language. Lenovo didn’t state whether the ThinkPad Rollable XD would be a candidate for Qira, its AI tool that will debut on “select” Lenovo devices and Motorola smartphones, but it’s likely that it could be.

Otherwise, the ThinkPad Rollable XD learns from its consumer-oriented counterpart. The laptop’s display also extends from 13.3 inches upwards to nearly 16 inches, creating an extra ribbon of screen space, or transforming a landscape laptop into one oriented as a portrait screen.

Lenovo didn’t release specifications for the device, given that it’s still in prototype mode. But I was told to imagine it as a potential candidate for Panther Lake, Intel’s Core Ultra 300 processor which is debuting this CES 2026 as well.

Naturally, Lenovo claims that the ThinkPad Rollable XD is still a prototype, and will remain so for now. But Lenovo has a habit of actually launching its prototype devices as finished products, so keep your fingers crossed that it eventually comes to market.