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The flip phone has made a comeback.

Royole Corporation, a 6-year-old startup, has become the first company to commercially release a smartphone with a foldable screen. Their product, the FlexPai, launched on October 31, besting Samsung, which is still teasing a release of their own foldable phone.

TechNode got a hands-on look at the FlexPai Tuesday during TechCrunch Shenzhen, where Royole Chairman and CEO Bill Liu said that while the FlexPai is a novelty, the company envisions the product as a practical solution.

โ€œPeople always want portability and large screen visual experience and thatโ€™s exactly what FlexPai can do,โ€ he said. โ€œPeople are interested in this new product not only because of the novelty. Novelty eventually has to serve for human needs.โ€

Cassidy McDonald is a Beijing-based multimedia journalist who covers technology's effect on Chinese society. She tweets at @CMcD123.

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