Say what you want about the Royole Flexpai but no doubt it has beaten Samsung and Huawei in launching the first commercially available phone in the world. It was released November last year. It actually prompted us to say the foldable phone arena just got real. It’s a real working foldable-flexible smartphone and so far, we haven’t heard any unfavorable news yet like display breaking after a few days. The Durability Test by JerryRigEverything revealed the foldable phone is good enough but bending it the other way will damage the hinge.
The FlexPai is fragile but we want to know how it is made inside. We’re curious how the parts and components are laid out. Zack Nelson always knows what to do, thus, this teardown video below:
The two halves of the Royole FlexPai are separated by a metal hinge. It appears to be sturdy so it endures thousands of folds. The backplates are not made of glass but just plastic. It makes sense because plastic easily bends. Plastic is also a good idea because it doesn’t easily shatter.
The panels can be easily removed with a little suction. Once removed, you can see about 33 Phillips head screws. They hold most of the phone together. Remove the screws and you can remove the large plastic panel.
The motherboard greets you together with the loudspeaker. The Royole logo is very obvious we wonder why the company really took time to add the brand inside.
The screen can be easily removed while the battery extension ribbons snap/unsnap like legos. We don’t see any heatpipes but a small amount of thermal paste is found at the back of the motherboard.
The two rear cameras don’t include OIS although Royole lists the said feature as part of the phone. The flexible display is shown followed by the battery. The hinge is fastened to the two sides with only four metal brackets. You will notice two magnets on either side that keep the phone closed when needed.
