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Royole's next foldable phone is much better at bending
When we spoke to Royole CEO Bill Liu back at CES 2019, we were told that his company's -- and the world's -- first foldable phone wouldn't be just a one-off. Today, the manufacturer finally unveiled the FlexPai 2, which is equipped with a tougher and more vibrant flexible display, along with a new robust hinge to keep everything together. More importantly, Royole claims to have reduced the crease that's all too common on existing foldable phones, partly thanks to its new material simulation model used throughout the development process.
2019 wasn't the year of foldables we were promised
We weren't far into this year when the trend pieces arrived. "2019 is going to be the year of the bendy phone," one read. Another declared that "2019 is shaping up to be the year of the foldable smartphone," or, at least it did before someone quietly edited it within a few hours. Hell, I'm probably guilty of this too. In our defense, that was because for a while there, it really did seem like this was the year foldable phones would become devices worth splurging on.
TCL is experimenting with a personal cinema visor
TCL turned up at IFA this year with a couple of prototype devices that it hopes will inform the future direction of its products. The first was a "wearable display concept" that looks an awful lot like the personal cinema headsets that pop up every 18 months or so. It's a pair of smart glasses with two OLED displays hovering over your eyes to try and trick you into thinking you're sat in a cinema.
Comparing the Galaxy Fold, the Huawei Mate X and the Royole FlexPai
Over the past few years, new handsets haven't had a lot to distinguish themselves from the competition. We've seen more powerful cameras and larger screens, but the basic design has been a bit stuck. However, in the past week both Samsung and Huawei have showcased bendable devices that can unfold from pocket-size into a larger tablet-like screen. And companies like Oppo and TCL are also showing off their own concepts, though those are only prototypes for now. In terms of what you'll be able to buy soon, we've taken the incoming Galaxy Fold and Mate X and faced them off against the only folding phone that's made it to market so far: the Royole FlexPai. There's a lot more than just those eye-watering prices to take a look at below.
How Royole built the world's first foldable phone
Samsung has grand ambitions for its forthcoming, foldable phone, but China's Royole somehow beat the tech titan (and everyone else) to market. Here's the thing, though: despite working on rollable, bendable, flexible screens since 2012, hardly anyone saw Royole's push into the smartphone market coming. To hear founder and CEO Bill Liu tell it, though, that was exactly how he wanted it. Liu joined us on our CES stage, to discuss what it was like for a company mostly known for screens to start working on a smartphone, walk us through how it works, and (perhaps most important) explain where Royole came from in the first place.
The world's first real foldable phone is rough around the edges
Unless you're (for some reason) a fan of personal cinema headsets, you almost certainly haven't heard of Royole. That's OK -- founder and CEO Bill Liu wanted it that way. Unbeknownst to most of the world, Royole has quietly been working to pioneer and perfect its own flexible screens since 2012, and its new FlexPai smartphone represents something of a coming-out party.
Royole's 'personal cinema' headset carries a heavy premium
VR's not-so-meteoric rise has also revived interest in that most sci-fi of concepts: the personal cinema. A head-mounted display that lets you immerse yourself in a movie, blocking out the distractions of modern life. No matter if you're on a plane or train, you can pretend that you have your very own screening room, like presidents, billionaires and Hugh Hefner. The latest entrant into that world is Royole, a company that doesn't have a storied history in consumer devices, instead producing flexible, super-thin AMOLED displays for businesses. It hopes to use its know-how to out-do rival headsets, like Avegant and Sony, which have both offered similar hardware in the past. But how does Royole's Moon compare to those other devices, and is it really the future of cinema?
The Royole-X is a foldable headset for movies on-the-go
For a brief moment in the hectic and crowded floor of CES, I escaped and watched a trailer for a "Fast and Furious" movie. No, I didn't sneak away into a theater (I wish) -- I simply donned the Royole-X, a new personal theater headset that's on display here at the CES Unveiled event. At first glance, it seems very much like the Avegant Glyph, another personal theater headset. But instead of using a mirror projection system, the Royole has an AMOLED embedded in its visor. Specifically, it's supposedly a superthin and flexible AMOLED display at only 0.01 mm thick. The result is what the company is calling the "world's first foldable audio and video headset.
