I first spent time with the Royole Flexpai at a TechCrunch event in China back in 2018. The device was exciting. It was the first commercially released foldable, after all, before Samsung and Huawei offered their respective takes on the form factor. But ultimately it felt like, at best, a proof of concept. It was a shot across the bow from a little-known Shenzhen-based hardware maker, and ultimately little else.
\nThe last two years have been \u2014 let\u2019s say \u201ccomplicated\u201d for the category. I don\u2019t think anyone was anticipating that $2,000 foldable phones were going to disrupt the industry right out of the gate or anything \u2014 especially in a time when more people are spending less money on their mobile devices. But to say foldables got off to a rocky start is something of an understatement. Royole has announced a few more products here and there, but the Flexpai continues to be the company\u2019s most engaging from a consumer perspective.<\/p>\n
A closer look at Royole\u2019s foldable display<\/p>\n
At an event in Beijing this morning, the company announced the Flexpai 2. The device is similar in design to the first model, which is to say it folds with the screen facing outward. The design makes sense from the standpoint of offering up notifications while closed (there\u2019s a reason the Galaxy Fold 2 got a larger front-facing screen), but now you\u2019ve got two screens to scuff up when the big old device is in your pocket.<\/p>\n
The device itself got a bit of screen time during the press conference, though not a ton. For now we mostly have press shots to rely on, which is going to continue to be one of the pain points of covering hardware in the COVID-19 era. Fittingly, the company spent a lot of time talking hinges here \u2014 that, after all, was a high profile point of failure for Samsung\u2019s first-gen device.
\nHere\u2019s how Royole describes it in the press material:<\/p>\n
The structure of the hinge is stable and shockproof, providing the great protection for the screen. It has more than 200 precision components with 0.01 mm processing accuracy. The hinge technology holds around 200 patents and solved many issues seen in other foldable smartphones.<\/p>\n
Image Credits: Royole<\/p>\n
Having had limited time with the Flexpai, I\u2019ll say that robustness didn\u2019t seem like one of the primary issues with a product that had some other first-gen bugs. The thing was pretty massively thick, though \u2014 which Royole has addressed with a design here that\u2019s around 40% thinner than the first gen. The display is a generous 7.8 inches \u2014 though no mention of whether there\u2019s glass reinforcement, which could be an issue.
\nThere\u2019s 5G support, a healthy 4450mAh battery and a Snapdragon 865 processor. The company updated its waterOS, which is built on top of Android 10 to offer a more seamless foldable experience. It arrives in China this week priced at around $1,427, which is wildly expensive for a standard smartphone, but actually pretty good for a foldable.
\nU.S. availability is, once again, a big question mark.<\/p>\n