As far as concept phones go, the TECNO PHANTOM Ultimate 2 is one of the most impressive we’ve seen, with the brand revealing its take on the burgeoning tri-fold form factor. As with most concept phones, we probably won’t see this arrive on the market anytime soon, but that doesn’t make us want it any less.
The PHANTOM Ultimate 2 offers a massive 10-inch screen that folds in two places, allowing it to have a Z shape. This means it’s a very bendy phone, making for weird and wonderful shapes, and enabling you to use the Phantom Ultimate 2 as a mini laptop, which is more than you can say of the best foldable phones currently available. Take that, Samsung.
Foldable handsets are typically more fragile due to having more moving parts, and they usually sacrifice the specs to keep the device light and able to fold into a small-ish form factor. However, TECNO promises that the hinge is strong enough for 300,000 folds, and the sturdy design allows the device to keep the strange shapes shown in the promotional clip. The best part is that it folds into a rather small 11mm when folded, smaller than Samsung’s Z Fold 6 at 12.1mm. That’s not enough to make it on our list of the best rugged smartphones, but it sounds promising.
While this is just a concept from TECNO, tri-fold smartphones aren’t too far off from landing on the market. We’ve seen the upcoming Huawei tri-fold leak, and we imagine seeing more triple-folding smartphones sooner rather than later, with rumors surrounding Samsung working on its own. Still, we’re hoping companies don’t race to be the first on the market – a high-quality product is more important than a rushed one.
While the tri-fold might not be available any time soon, TECNO is bringing something new to the table soon with the upcoming PHANTOM V Fold2 and PHANTOM V Flip2 arriving before the end of 2024. Considering the first generation V Flip was one of the best flip phones of 2023, we can’t wait to see what both new alternative form factor handsets have to offer.