Before Samsung could launch its first-ever Galaxy Fold, a small Chinese company called
Royole
unveiled the world’s first foldable smartphone. The Royole FlexPai became the world’s first
foldable smartphone
that was made commercially available. However, the company whose primary business is focused on flexible display technology, now seems to be going through a financial crisis.
The foldable brand has reportedly defaulted on its employee wages for nearly a year.
According to a report by China’s News Daily (seen by GizmoChina), around 50 Royole employees resorted to protest demonstrations with banners and slogans at the company’s Display Headquarters entrance in Shenzhen.
After Royole’s CEO Liu Zihong was unable to adhere to the verbal promises made by him, the employees had no option but to protest against the company.
The employees have not received their arrears and wages since November 2022. They are now demanding to resolve the issue and are asking the company to credit their wages as soon as possible.
The report also notes that as a demand, the Employee Rights Protection Committee has signed an application for the settlement of the remaining claims by Shenzhen Royole Technology Co., Ltd. Over the past couple of years, thousands of company employees have already left the company due to the ongoing financial crisis.
What the company has to say
In reply, the company said that its business has suffered significant losses and is only able to pay social security deposits. The company is now left only with 200–300 employees which includes engineers who maintain the production line.
Royole’s move to seek help from the government and investors also haven’t been successful. Meanwhile, employees have claimed that the production line never started in 2022. The government is helping the company to restructure its debt, however, so significant change has been noticed so far.
In 2022, the company launched its last smartphone, the Royole Flexpai 2 that featured up to 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. In the last decade, the company has been considered a primary competitor to Samsung Display’s monopoly as it was successful in developing ultra-low-temperature non-silicon process integration technology to create flexible displays.
English (US) ·