Chinese smartphone maker Royole reportedly has a new foldable phone in the pipeline that will flaunt a pop-up selfie camera to go with its outward folding design. Royole might not be a well-known name in the west, but the company holds the crown for being the first to announce a foldable smartphone and bring it to the market for commercial sale.
The first-gen Royole FlexPai was announced at CES 2018 and hit the shelves in December of the same year. The problematic Samsung Galaxy Fold was introduced a few months later, in March of 2019, but it took its own sweet time to hit the shelves. Huawei, on the other hand, launched its foldable Mate X smartphone a full year after Royole at CES 2019. A year later, Royole followed up its first foldable phone with a refined successor called the Flexpai 2 that is pictured below.
It now appears that the company has given up on its dreams of making a solid foldable phone and raking in some profits while at it. Prolific leakster Evan Blass has shared alleged renders of the Royole FlexPai 3, showing the device from all angles. The design of Royole’s upcoming phone is a stark departure from its predecessors in a couple of departments. For example, the leaked Royole FlexPai 3 renders show a squircle camera module that houses a couple of snappers and the LED flash module. The two previous Royole foldables have had a ridge on the left on one side which played host to the camera and other sensors. Huawei also went for the same design on its first two foldable phones before it finally adopted a design that is seen on more mainstream foldable mobiles such as the Galaxy Z Fold 2.
A Wise Camera Choice, But Same Safety Hazards
Another significant design change that Royole appears to be adopting for its next foldable is a pop-up camera. Going the pop-up camera route has a couple of benefits. First, the company doesn’t have to drill a hole on the foldable panel, which has an interrupted seamless look. Second, it allows the company to avoid the more expensive solution in the form of an under-display selfie camera. Samsung went for an under-display front camera with the Galaxy Z Fold 3, but reviews show that it is no match for an ‘uncovered’ camera. So Royole appears to have killed two birds with a single stone here — cutting down on the cost and not downgrading the selfie camera output.
However, Royole is still not done with the exterior folding design. Unlike the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 or the Xiaomi MIX Fold phones, the Royole FlexPai 3 is loyal to the outward folding design. This design also means there is no need for a secondary cover display. However, there is also a glaring risk with such a design. When the device is being used in a folded state as a phone, the screen portion alongside the edge is left exposed and can easily take damage from bumps, falls, or sharp objects. The bezels are still quite thick, though, which isn’t surprising given the budget appeal of Royole’s foldable compared to those offered by Samsung and Huawei.
Source: Evan Blass / Twitter