Sorry, but I just can 't get a clear, close up picture of the buds.
I think I'm going to do what I said earlier....cut the spike all the way down, repot it, and see what happens next time. I'll be on the lookout for new leaf growth in the short term, and healthy buds in the long term.
Wish me luck!
I have a NOID Phal I got for a gift about a year ago and the buds do have a texture to the outside of the buds. When I first got it it had the same texture and a lot of the buds didn't open. They blasted and I cut the spikes all the way off. This year it bloomed again with the same texture and all the buds opened. It had a lot of flowers and some of the buds took a while to open but they all did. Some of the last ones to open didn't open untill some of the first opened blooms withered and fell off. It was in bloom for three months.
I think your hybrid Phal just has textured buds and something else is going on. How long have you given the buds to open? My NOID had buds that took two months to open behind the first buds that opened.