There’s a whole slew of announcements concerning foldable phones recently, including big-name brands like Samsung and smaller start-ups like Royole. And rumor has it that Xiaomi, AKA the biggest smartphone company in the entire Chinese market, is here to join the conversation.
Company president and co-founder Lin Bin has confirmed the rumor with a teaser video that was posted earlier today in Weibo. The video showed the executive browsing through what seemed like a tablet-sized gadget. Suddenly, he flips the tablet to landscape and folds both sides, turning it into a regular-sized phone.
If that wasn’t amazing enough, the foldable phone even had a UI that could automatically detect the ‘mode’ it’s in and adjust based on that. When unfolded, the device worked like a regular full-sized tablet. When folded, however, the whole screen fit into the middle part, essentially acting like any regular phone out there.
Although this is just a prototype, the device is already fully functional. Xiaomi has even released some possible names for it, the Mi Dual Flex or the Mi Mix Flex, though they’re still open to ideas. Right now, the smartphone giant is still testing the waters, i.e. waiting for positive feedback from consumers, before deciding whether or not to produce the device.
Here’s an excerpt of Lin Bin’s Weibo post, as translated by Engadget: “Xiaomi’s dual-folding phone is coming! After tackling flexible folding display, four-way folding hinge, flexible cover tech, MIUI adaptation and other technical challenges, we have made the first foldable phone, and should also be the world’s first dual-folding phone. (…) Feel free to share, comment and like. If you all like it, we will consider mass producing it.”
