At CES 2019, we looked at the first foldable smartphone, the Royole FlexPai, which is now available worldwide as a concept device, and tell you about our first impressions.

Where, from the announcement of the first foldable smartphone, I had the expectation that it could hit the market even before Samsung from China, maybe even from Huawei, Oppo or Vivo, we were surprised by a small California company called Names Royole. At least almost, because at a second glance it is after all a Chinese company based in the USA.

Royole showed us the CES 2019 with the Royole FlexPai, the first foldable Android smartphone and even with self-produced AMOLED panels. These indestructible panels can be bent up to 200,000 times. According to Royole, this should be about 6 years of realistic usage, about 100 bends per day, which I would even call a lot. The display is not supported at any point with glass and would even be completely unrollable without the hardware in the background, as you can see in the video.

The concept device could already hold our colleague Nicole already in the hands and it is also available since December 2018 in China and now even worldwide from $ 1300 (ie about 1300 euros with taxes) in the 128 GB version. A 256 and 512 GB version is also available. The price is not surprising, considering the technology in it. Concept device means that while it is a full-fledged device on the market, it is available in a limited version until the version is available to the average consumer, as it was with the Xiaomi Mi Mix. There will also be a developer version for the West. The final version is expected to come by the end of the year. But if you want to order (or import) now, which is quite possible, you have to count one to two months delivery time.

royole flexpai hands on
The intriguing 7.8 inch tablet (134 x 190.35 x 7.6 mm, 380g) is not really pretty and has a slightly larger edge for the 16 + 20 MP dual camera on the left side. Due to the foldability, this is the only camera. When folded, it can be thought of as two bonded 3.8-inch smartphones that are not flat on top of each other. It almost looks like a Surface Book. Whether you really want to have it in your pocket, let's just say it. It is nice that the appearance of the display does not change when folding at the break point. The other side of the tabletis empty and does not host another display, as we had seen from Samsung. There is a fingerprint sensor on the side and a USB-C connector on the bottom.

royole flexpai hands on
Surprisingly, the Snapdragon 855 Octacore processor is already inside. In addition comes 6 or 8 GB RAM, as well as 128 or 256 GB of internal memory. An argument for a foldable smartphone would have been for me the battery. However, this is relatively modest with 3800 mAh, considering that current "unfoldable" smartphones sometimes have more than 4000 mAh. Interesting is the dual-SIM functionality, because each side of the device uses a SIM card. So you have to turn the smartphone and you can switch from business to private in no time at all. The system runs Water OS based on Android 9.0, which in terms of design is similar to other Chinese-derived surfaces.