'World's first' foldable smartphone unveiled by Chinese startup

Royole beats Huawei and Samsung in race to commercialize next-gen handset

20181102N Flexpai

Royole CEO Bill Liu unveils the foldable FlexPai smartphone Wednesday in Beijing.

TAKASHI KAWAKAMI, Nikkei staff writer

GUANGZHOU -- Chinese startup Royole has put a foldable smartphone on the market, beating global heavyweights to a much-anticipated industry milestone.

The company started taking orders Thursday for the wallet-like FlexPai, which is priced starting at 8,999 yuan ($1,306) for the Chinese consumer market. The phone will be available only as a developer model outside China. Delivery is scheduled to begin in December.

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