‘World’s first’ foldable phone reviewed – and it’s not a Samsung or Huawei
- Royole FlexPai makes history becoming the first foldable device that can be used as a tablet and a smartphone
- Be warned, the camera is terrible and Google apps cannot run on the device
This was supposed to be the summer of the foldable phone. At least that’s what Samsung and Huawei, the world’s two top phone brands by sales, promised us.
Instead, a relatively obscure Chinese company named Royole has jumped in and claimed the much-coveted “world’s first” title with its own foldable phone, the FlexPai.
Design and hardware
The Royole FlexPai is essentially a tablet-sized device with cellular connectivity that can fold in half to take on a smaller form factor. This is made possible because the screen is crafted out of flexible plastic instead of the glass we’ve grown accustomed to.
This is cutting-edge tech that gadget geeks have dreamed about for years, and despite the technical shortcomings right now – the display texture doesn’t feel as smooth as glass, and there’s a noticeable half-inch gap at the folding point – there’s still something surreal about seeing a screen bend and fold over and not snap in half.