There’s no denying that the mobile market is ready for some breath taking innovation to inject some excitement into the industry and it seems that foldable phones may be the design trick to do this.

The foldable handset hype has been circulating for some years now, with patents from the likes of Apple, Samsung and LG surfacing early 2018.

With one foldable handset already on the market to buy and an array of others lined up for this year, it looks to be that a foldable phone isn’t a far-off concept any longer.

We’re hearing hype surrounding the Samsung Galaxy X (possibly named the Galaxy F),  a potential reboot of an old classic – the Motorola Razr, and an unknown startup Royole who are  the first to market, so it seems as though almost every manufacturer is on the race to offer the number 1 in foldable phone technology. And with Google’s commitment to providing Android support for these foldable designs, we’re expecting even more manufacturers to get involved.

Over the next week, we’ll be taking a look at the rumoured foldable handsets one by one, examining patents and the rumoured technology behind the new designs.

First up we take a look at the first to market: The Royole FlexPai Handset

Royole’s website offers the tag line ‘We invent the future’ and who can argue when the unknown tech company cemented their place in wireless history by bringing the world’s first commercial foldable handset to market.

Marketed as a combination of mobile phone and tablet, the FlexPai offers a ultra thin, Cicada Wing fully flexible 7.8″ full color flexible display with 4:3 aspect ratio and 1920 x 1440 resolution.

The handset can be used either folded or unfolded (FlexPai can be folded from 0 to 180 degrees) and incoming calls or photos can be conveniently taken from either side when folded.

Take a look at the official video for more of an insight into this disruptive offering from Royole:

Stay tuned to the blog as we dive into the Samsung Galaxy X (Galaxy F?), along with rumours from Apple, LG, Motorola, Huawei and more across the coming week.