Las Vegas — The Chinese manufacturer Royole Corporation has doubled down on its claim of having the first foldable phone on the market.
While Royole announced and released a developer model of the FlexPai device in October 2018, the manufacturer shared further availability details Monday during its CES 2019 press conference.
A consumer model of the Royole FlexPai is now available for the Chinese market, making it the first commercial foldable display product on the market. This model is currently available, selling for 899 yuan. The developer model is available in the U.S. with a starting price of $1,318. There is no word on whether the commercial model will be released in the U.S.
The highlight feature of the Royole FlexPai is its flexible display, which can bend over 200,000 times in average use. This equates to several years, possibly up to ten, Royole CEO, Bill Liu noted in an impromptu demo of his personal device after the press conference. While this model was worn around its plastic frame at the bending point, the display itself was pristine.
Royole has branded the FlexPai as up to three devices in one. When folded, each side of the display can work independently, or users can turn off the display that is not being used. The smartphone features a dual-SIM and users can have the separate folded displays dedicated to a SIM card. One display has a 16:9 aspect ratio and the other an 18:9 aspect ratio. When open and flat, the FlexPai is a 7.8-inch tablet with a 4:3 aspect ratio.
Liu also highlighted the camera functionality on the Royole FlexPai. The device has a dual-lens setup that serves as both the main camera and the selfie camera. The system includes a 16-megapixel wide-angle lens and a 20-megapixel telephoto lens located on the left bezel of the device in tablet mode. When folded, the smaller display houses the camera.
When taking standard photos, users can take advantage of both screens in its folded state, with a viewfinder available for the photo taker on one side, and the other viewfinder available for a subject on the other side. Users can also take selfies in tablet mode or in its folded mode.
Other hardware specs include the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chip, 6GB, and 8GB of RAM and 126GB, 256GB, and 512GB internal storage options, a USB-C port and Android Pie with Royole’s custom interface called Water OS. The device does not include a headphone jack.
