Next Royole FlexPai Foldable Phone Might Have An Odd Camera Design

Samsung isn't the only one selling foldable phones and it isn't technically the first one either. Months before it could launch the first Galaxy Fold, Chinese company Royole launched its own FlexPai take on the form factor, featuring an "outie" design that leaves the phone's one and only screen always on the outside. Unlike what Huawei is rumored to do, it hasn't changed that design in the FlexPai 2, and, according to a new leak, the next one won't either. That said, it will have a rather important change that would have significant implications if true.

The first two FlexPai foldable phones are pretty much like what the Huawei Mate X and Mate Xs looked like. That is true even for the camera array that ran vertically in a single column on one side of the phone. Given the "outie" fold, this meant that it's possible to use those same cameras for both regular shooting as well as selfies.

Curiously, a leak now claims that a new Royole foldable phone will have an important change to the design, with the cameras now enclosed in a square bump located on the back of the phone, just like many phones these days. Not much of an issue for a regular smartphone but the large bump would get in the way of a foldable phone. Royole's solution is both ingenious and almost comical as it looks like a cutout in the exact same shape of the camera bump on the exact opposite side of the phone.

In practice, this would mean that the bump would lie inside that cutout when the phone is folded close so that there would be no gap in between. While this seemingly allows the phone to actually fold flat as well, it's still an odd design when looking at when the 7.2-inch screen is completely open.

The photos spotted at China's TENAA also indicates that there will be only two cameras on this phone. GSMArena speculates that this means that the phone won't be a FlexPai 3 but could instead be a "lite" version of Royole's foldable phone line.