The world’s first foldable smartphone the Royole FlexPai just received a successor. Chinese display-maker Royole has launched the FlexPai 2 with a 180-degree folding display, Snapdragon 865 chipset, and Android 10.
The new foldable launches today in China. You can see it around the 38-minute mark in the video below.
The FlexPai 2 features a 7.8-inch screen (unfolded), which, like the original, is likely to be made of flexible plastic. It measures 6.3mm thick when opened out and 12.8mm when folded, making it thinner than the Galaxy Z Fold 2 (16.8mm). The gap when the device is closed is pretty small, and it certainly looks a lot nicer than its predecessor. Royole says the FlexPai 2 is 40 percent thinner and lighter than its previous foldable.
There’s also a four-camera array consisting of a 64MP wide, 16MP ultrawide, 8MP with 3x optical zoom, and a 32MP ‘Portrait’ selfie cam. The hinge, often the Achilles’ heel of folding phones, is waterproof and “mechanically robust” so it can withstand 1.8 million folds, apparently.
Elsewhere, the FlexPai 2 features a 4,450mAh battery with 18W charging via a USB-C port. It comes in 8GB/12GB RAM options paired with 256GB/512GB storage. Colorways include Sunrise Gold, Cosmic Gray, and Midnight Black.
In terms of price, the Royole FlexPai 2 is almost $500 cheaper than the $2,000 Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2. It comes in at 9,988 yuan (~$1,471) but remains a China-only launch. Last year, Royole sold a developer version of the first FlexPai worldwide, but we’re unsure if it plans to bring the FlexPai 2 to global markets.
