Tecno reveals tri-fold Phantom Ultimate 2 concept phone

That’s two tri-folds in a week

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Chinese manufacturer Tecno has revealed a triple-foldable smartphone concept just days after competitorHuawei confirmed that a tri-fold deviceis on the way.

AsGSMArenareports, the Phantom Ultimate 2 concept sports a 6.48-inch outer screen with a 10-inch inner screen, an LTPOOLEDpanel with a resolution of 1620 x 2880, and an aspect ratio of 4:3.

Elsewhere,BGRreports that the Phantom Ultimate 2 is just 11mm thick when folded, which is 1.1mm thinner than theSamsung Galaxy Z Fold 6, though the video shows an increase in thickness around the camera bump, and it’s not clear how this measurement was taken.

The new phone also features OLED Touch and Display Driver Integration (TDDI), placing the display driver and touch sensor on the same chip.

Tecno unveiled the device concept witha short videodemonstrating the two-hinged device in a number of scenarios, such as using one segment of the screen as a keyboard in a laptop-style configuration, or propping the displays up in ‘tent mode’ for real-time AI translation.

However, as a concept phone it’s not yet clear whether the Phantom Ultimate 2 will make it to production – the same has proved true for its predecessor, the Phantom Ultimate, which was revealed with a rolling screen in August 2023.

We should also note that since this is a concept phone we can’t get our hands on to test, we have no way of verifying if any of the purported features are complete or functional.

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The race to third place

In fact, the timing of this new reveal says almost as much as the video itself. Tecno’s announcement comes as the race to release the world’s first tri-fold device begins to heat up.

On August 19, Huawei Consumer Business Group CEO Yu Chengdong (also known as Richard Yu) confirmed that a tri-fold Huawei device is coming out in September.

If Huawei sticks to this timeframe, the company has a good chance of being the first in the world to put a tri-fold device in consumers’ hands following months of rumors and prototypes being teased by multiple manufacturers.

In May,Creative Bloqreported that Chinese semiconductor manufacturerTCLCSOT had displayed its unnamed tri-fold prototype at the Society for Information Display’s Display Week event. And in July, Honor laid out a patent for a tri-fold design, though no development has been confirmed.

As forSamsung, rumors of a tri-fold Galaxy Z Fold have circulated all year despite a lack of details online.

While the Phantom Ultimate 2 remains a concept, it’s a clear indication that triple folding phones are on the minds of forward-looking designers. They’re on our minds too, so make sure to keep up withour smartphone newsfor the latest tri-fold updates.

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Jamie is a Mobile Computing Staff Writer for TechRadar, responsible for covering phones and tablets. He’s been tech-obsessed from a young age and has written for various news and culture publications. Jamie graduated from Goldsmiths, University of London in 2024 with a bachelor’s degree in Journalism. Since starting out as a music blogger in 2020, he’s worked on local news stories, finance trade magazines, and multimedia political features. He brings a love for digital journalism and consumer technology to TechRadar. Outside of the TechRadar office, Jamie can be found binge-watching tech reviews, DJing in local venues around London, or challenging friends to a game of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

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