We're almost sick of hearing rumors about a supposed Samsung phone with a folding screen, and even Huawei is reportedly working on something similar. Yet both have been beaten in the race to unveil a smartphone with a folding display that you can actually purchase.

Chinese company Royole is better known for making singular components, but it has now put its flexible AMOLED technology into a device of its own. The FlexPai is both a phone and a tablet, with a 7.8-inch screen (4:3, 1920x1440) when unfurled. The display can apparently be folded more than 200,000 times without damage.

As for the other specs, it's powered by an unspecified "Qualcomm next-gen Snapdragon 8 series SoC," rumored to be the new 8150 (see tweet below), along with 8GB of RAM and 128 or 256GB of storage. The dual camera module consists of a 20MP telephoto sensor and a 16MP wide angle, which can be front or rear-facing, depending on how you fold the FlexPai.

The OS is referred to as Water OS, a heavily customized skin over the top of Android 9 Pie. This allows for notifications on the side of the fold, among other unique features. It's clear from looking at it that this is very much a first generation product, and you would hope that Samsung or Huawei or whoever else could come up with something a little more elegant. Nevertheless, you can buy the Royole FlexPai right now, with the developer model costing $1,318 for the 128GB variant or $1,469 for 256GB — shipping is scheduled for late December.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjdGhHLQIH4