Xiaomi shows off the world’s first double foldable smartphone in a video

Xiaomi

Xiaomi is pulling all stops to enter the foldable smartphone segment teasing a video of its vision of the futuristic gadget. Xiaomi co-founder and President Lin Bin recently teased a video showing off the company’s first double foldable phone, and it is easily one of the most polished prototypes out there.

Some of the industry’s biggest players are striving to perfect the foldable smartphone formula. Samsung has already displayed a prototype of their foldable phone, while a company named Royole introduced the first commercially available foldable smartphone called the FlexPai in the fourth quarter of 2018. The latest player to hop on the foldable smartphone bandwagon is Xiaomi.

Bin posted a nearly minute-long video on the Chinese social media site Weibo. The Chinese smartphone giant has already confirmed the authenticity of the video, proving that a tried-and-tested foldable smartphone prototype could make its debut as early as the first quarter of 2019.

Click to see Xiaomi's President Lin Bin original Weibo post

The video doesn’t reveal many details about Xiaomi’s latest prototype, but what we do see is Lin Bin is seen flexing around on a device that looks like a tablet with some very thin bezels. Bin then goes on to fold this tablet-like device backwards, giving it a pocket-friendly form factor. The interface on this foldable smartphone also seems smooth and seamless. Xiaomi also appears to have adopted the MIUI software for the foldable phone.

Lin Bin’s Weibo post indicates that Xiaomi is finally ready to reveal its first foldable smartphone after tackling the flexible folding display, four-way folding hinge, flexible cover tech, MIUI adaptation and other such challenges. Bin has urged consumers to share their views about the Xiaomi's new prototype smartphone and also asked them to help him out with a name for the new device.

Unlike the foldable phones we’ve already seen, Xiaomi’s adaption of the technology is more practical and does resemble a device that can be used as a daily driver. Xiaomi’s will go head-to-head with Samsung’s and Huawei’s folding phone prototypes, Royole’s FlexPai and the upcoming Motorola Razr flip smartphone.