Tecno just unveiled a tri-fold phone — and it’s pretty stunning

Tecno may be mostly known for selling mobile phones in Africa and India, but the company is no stranger to producing innovative, interesting phones. For example, last year’s Phantom V Fold undercut the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 by $700. 

Now, the company is introducing the Phantom Ultimate 2, a tri-fold phone with a stunning and versatile design. There have been tri-fold concepts before but this Tecno concept is pretty impressive (h/t Android Central).

It seems that the idea of a tri-fold phone is becoming increasingly trendy as foldable phones mature, like the recently announced Pixel 9 Pro Fold.

The Phantom Ultimate 2 is supposed to measure 11mm thick when folded. The thinner Galaxy Z Fold 6 is 12.1mm when its two sides are closed. If it were more than a concept, this might be one of the best foldable phones.

The thickest panel of the three appears to hold the camera array, charging port and maybe a speaker. The thinnest is achieved through a fairly versatile hinge design that appears to fold forward and backward. 

Tecno claims the phone is using the “smartphone industry’s thinnest battery cover”, which measures .25mm and is composed of “super-compressed Titan Advanced Fiber material,” which is nearly half the thickness of an industry standard of .45mm.

When closed, the primary display measures 6.48 inches, slightly bigger than the 6.2-inch on the Z Fold 6 foldable. When opened up, the interior display is 10 inches on a 3K OLED panel. 

As mentioned, the screen can fold in various angles, making the phone a mini-laptop reminiscent of the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i and its dual screens. One-third of the phone can be folded flat to the table, and a keyboard display pops up. In the video released by Tecno, we can see a version with screens on two sides where people can share work or perhaps do dual-screen translation like on the Z Flip 6.

The company says it’s optimized the software for the form factor, claiming that the Phantom Ultimate 2 can utilize dynamic wallpapers and icons that react to how the device is folded. 

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Still this is a concept, and Tecno hasn’t revealed any specs for the device like the chipset, battery size, camera resolutions or anything else about the display. Tecno makes phones that undercut competitors on price, so it’s unclear how much of this device will make it into a potential future device with an affordable price.

That said, no one is beating Huawei to the market regarding selling a triple-fold smartphone that is supposed to launch in September. 

Still, most concepts we’ve seen in the wild have mostly been renders, so even a promotional product that appears to work is a step into the future of tri-fold tablet-esque devices.

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