January 23, 2019, 08:35 PM 
Foldable phones might be the new wave that hits smartphone industry.
The very first foldable smartphone was launched earlier this year.
Here it is.
The Royole FlexPai drew plenty of buzz but ultimately received quite a bit of flak as well.
Some of the problems included the price, the general lagginess of the phone, and the fact that the foldability served as a detriment rather than a novel feature.
But those were to be expected from basically the very first phone in this exciting new evolution in the smartphone design.
Xiaomi steps up
Undaunted by this new challenge, Xiaomi seems to have taken up position as next batter.
XiaoMi's new foldable phone concept was leaked earlier this month in this grainy Twitter video.
Can't speak to the authenticity of this video or device, but it's allegedly made by Xiaomi, I'm told. Hot new phone, or gadget porn deepfake? pic.twitter.com/qwFogWiE2F
— Evan Blass (@evleaks) January 3, 2019
Now, a much clearer prototype has been confirmed.
Xiaomi's president himself, Lin Bin, is seen toying around with the foldable phone.
Here is the video.
Unlike the Royole which folds in two, the new Xiaomi phone actually folds backwards, and in threes, to make it a serviceable phone, not just a half-tablet.
It's still a prototype, and doesn't even appear to have a name yet, though Reddit did come up with a killer idea.
There isn't much more out there at the moment, but new details could be revealed at next months Mobile World Congress.
Cool.
Not so cool
Image collated from Ishan Argawal's YouTube
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