A Chinese start-up has beaten Samsung and other smartphone manufacturers in the race to build the first device with a folding screen that essentially turns a phone into a tablet.
Chinese company Royole has presented the world’s first foldable smartphone, the FlexiPai, at CES in Las Vegas.
The FlexPai is a tablet that has small hinges allowing it to be folded up to the size of a smartphone. Once its AMOLED display is folded back out, the device effectively has two screens that can operate completely independently.
Royole CEO Bill Liu says the display can be folded up to 200,000 times without wear. The device’s flexibility also protects it from breaking when dropped, the company says.
The FlexPai uses the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 processor and has a 3,800 mAh battery. The smartphone’s camera has a 20 megapixel telephoto lens and a 16 megapixel wide-angle lens, which can also be used for taking selfies.
The phone presented at CES is still only a prototype for software developers interested in creating applications for the device, and it’s not yet clear when the device will go on sale. Developers can buy it for 1,300 euros (1,500 dollars). The company did not name a retail price.
Liu also said that the display technology could be useful in other fields as well, such as for large displays in cars or planes, but also for billboards or even art installations.
Samsung also has a foldable smartphone waiting in the wings, first announced in November, which it was expected to show off at CES as well. There are rumours that other manufacturers like Huawei are looking into foldable devices as well. – dpa
