While Samsung was widely thought to be the forerunner to come up with the first foldable smartphone, it was a small Chinese firm, Royole, which technically got the first dibs with its FlexPai receiving the title of the first foldable phone ever. But it was clear that the then barely five-year-old flexible display maker was simply rushing the product to win first accolades. Now, more than a year later, the company has once again teased a second-gen FlexPai 2 (moniker not confirmed) is coming on March 25th.
As per Chinese media reports, Royole Technology CEO Liu Zihong, in a live broadcast program revealed the launch date which is just eight days away now. The executive also said that the FlexPai 2 would have been revealed at the MWC, had it not been for unfortunate circumstances and the following cancellation of the global trade show.
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There is little we know about the new upcoming product as of now, but reports suggest a Snapdragon 865 SoC with support for both SA and NSA network is likely which is not surprising. The foldable will also support 7-modes and 46-bands, covering major network frequencies of global operators.
It would be even more interesting to know the design changes, if any, that Royole might have in store. The first FlexPai doesn’t bring fond memories as the “flex” of its screen was very pronounced and unignorable. It looked like a rushed product, to say the least, and while it did go on sale in China, it soon went down under after the Galaxy Fold debut. Let’s hope they don’t come up with another weird Flex-Pai.