Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (2021) leaks with this new key feature

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The ThinkPad X1 Carbon and X1 Yoga will allegedly launch in February 2021

(Image credit: Baidu)

Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 Carbon and ThinkPad X1 Yoga are two of the best business laptops but they're starting to feel a bit stale, having received only minor updates in recent years. 

However, a new leak suggests Lenovo is primed to breathe new life into these enterprise notebooks by making a significant change to their displays. On the Chinese site Baidu, a user who claims to have info about Lenovo's upcoming laptops posted images of the next-gen ThinkPad X1 Carbon (9th Gen) and ThinkPad X1 Yoga (6th Gen).

If these are genuine, they appear to come straight from Lenovo as they look like high-res press images. Let me emphasize if — we haven't verified this leak so don't be surprised if the upcoming versions of these laptops look nothing like those in the photos. 

If they do, then the ThinkPad X1 Carbon and X1 Yoga could get their biggest redesign in years. It starts with 16:10 aspect ratio displays, which are taller and more narrow than the standard 16:9 panels on the current models. 

I wouldn't be surprised if Lenovo made this change; the recently announced ThinkPad X1 Nano has a 16:10 aspect ratio (like the Dell XPS 13), so this could be a feature the company wants to adopt on all of its laptops.

(Image credit: Baidu)

Another interesting difference between the current ThinkPad X1 Carbon and the one seen in the photos is a new bar-style hinge, which would replace two small independent hinges. The new design could allow for a more rigid frame but also opens the possibility for Lenovo to bring the speaker grille hinge from the Yoga C940 to its business notebooks. Unfortunately, no such speaker is seen in these photos. Instead, Lenovo appears to have shifted the speakers from above the keyboard to the right and left sides of it. 

Other tidbits we can glean from these images include the USB Type-A port on the side of the ThinkPad X1 Yoga, a reassuring sign for those avoiding dongles. According to the Baidu user, the touchpad was also tweaked although it's hard to tell if it was expanded (a change we would wholeheartedly welcome). 

If the leaker's info is accurate, we will see the new ThinkPad X1 Carbon and ThinkPad X1 Yoga launch in February 2021. 

H/T Notebookcheck

Phillip Tracy
Phillip Tracy

Phillip Tracy is the assistant managing editor at Laptop Mag where he reviews laptops, phones and other gadgets while covering the latest industry news. After graduating with a journalism degree from the University of Texas at Austin, Phillip became a tech reporter at the Daily Dot. There, he wrote reviews for a range of gadgets and covered everything from social media trends to cybersecurity. Prior to that, he wrote for RCR Wireless News covering 5G and IoT. When he's not tinkering with devices, you can find Phillip playing video games, reading, traveling or watching soccer.