Tecno isn’t slowing down in the foldable phone race. While it is currently prepping to launch its second-gen foldables, the company unveiled a surprising new triple-folding concept phone at the IFA technology conference in Berlin.
The device is called the Tecno Phantom Ultimate 2. It features a 6.48-inch cover screen that unfolds into a larger 10-inch 3K OLED panel with a 4:3 aspect ratio. That’s the screen size of a big Android tablet, but the fold has significantly smaller bezels.
What’s even more impressive is that despite housing three screens in one, Tecno has managed to make the Phantom Ultimate 2 slimmer than the Galaxy Z Fold 6. The latter has a 12.1mm thickness, while Tecno’s tri-fold measures just 11mm thick when folded.
This slim profile is achieved partly through the use of a new hinge design that is less than 9mm thick, and partly through what Tecno claims is “the smartphone industry’s thinnest battery cover.” At just 0.25mm thick, this cover is made from “super-compressed Titan Advanced Fiber material.”
Durability is a concern with such a complex design, but Tecno assures users that the hinge has been tested to endure 300,000 folds and has an impressive strength rating of 2100MPa.
Now with multiple screens in hand (pun intended), it’s natural to wonder how you can take full use of them. Fortunately, Tecno showed off a few practical use cases for this.
In one mode, you can stand the phone’s two screens upright and use the third screen as a keyboard deck. Another mode meant for multimedia consumption folds back the bottom section and lets you watch content on the remaining halves.
Likewise, there’s a “tent mode”, where the two side screens face each other for a seamless dual-screen face-to-face conversation with live translation.
Tecno has also optimized the software to adapt to these flexible forms. The phone’s wallpapers adjust dynamically with each fold, and users can take advantage of multi-window multitasking across the three panels.
As we mentioned earlier, the Tecno Phantom Ultimate 2 is a concept phone. Therefore, we can’t confirm when, or if it will ever be officially available for purchase.
