Royale FlexPai 2 Foldable Phone Is Coming Next Quarter

The Samsung Galaxy Fold may have hogged the limelight last year in both good and bad ways but it can't really claim to be the world's first commercially available foldable phone. That boast belongs to Royale who, before it launched the FlexPai near the end of 2018, was a practically unknown Chinese company. Unwilling to let that timing advantage go to waste, the company is announcing the technology that will find its way into its next-gen foldable phone, the FlexPai 2.

By now, people who keep up with smartphones probably already know the perils of foldable screens. They may be flexible and incredibly thin but they aren't completely foldable or durable against scratches. They're fun to see and touch but their longevity is still pretty much in question.

Royale's next-generation "Fully Flexible Display" or FFD, which it dubs the 3rd Generation Cicada Wing, doesn't directly address those, save for its supposed ability to fold down to a minimum 1mm radius. The company does boast about improved viewing angles and brightness. It does claim that it can withstand more than 200,000 bends, just like the Galaxy Z Flip.

Of course, a foldable screen would be pretty useless on its own and the company also teased its next foldable phone, the Royale FlexPai 2. That will come with a 7.8-inch 3rd gen Cicada Wing in a 4:3 aspect ratio and a new "Super Seamless & Stepless Hinge". No other details were given but we'd be surprised if it didn't run on a Snapdragon 865.

Given the company's brand and location, the FlexPai 2 will probably take the limelight only for a short while. It might take advantage of how the smartphone market may be experiencing a bit of a hump but it's hard to expect the phone to be more than a passing interest even to tech pundits.