What you need to know
- Tecno just showed off a rollable phone concept that expands sideways.
- Dubbed the Phantom Ultimate, the display unrolls from 6.55 to a 7.11-inch panel via a motor.
- When the device is rolled, the extra part of the display sits at the back, and is used as an always-on screen.
While foldables like the Galaxy Z Fold 5 are mainstream nowadays, we’re still some ways away from a rollable phone where the screen is tucked away into the chassis. LG showed off a few iterations of its rollable phone a few years ago, and Motorola did the same this year at MWC. Tecno is the latest brand to follow suit, with the Chinese manufacturer showing off its take on a rollable phone.
Dubbed the Phantom Ultimate, the rollable phone uses a motor system to roll out the screen from 6.55 inches to 7.11 inches, and this is done by the press of a button. The screen rolls out in just 1.2 – 1.3 seconds, and the effect — as you can imagine — is pretty cool. Here’s a look at it in action, courtesy of GSMArena:
As for the screen itself, you’re looking at a 7.11-inch LTPO AMOLED display with a resolution of 2296 x 1596, with Tecno noting that it covers 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut. What’s particularly cool about the Ultimate is that when the device is retracted, the extra portion of the screen rolls up at the back, and serves as an always-on screen.
There’s a textured back that Tecno says is designed to make it easy to hold the phone, and the device comes in at 9.93mm. Like all other rollables up to this point, the Phantom Ultimate is just a concept, and it isn’t going into production anytime soon. That may change in the coming years as the yield for rollable screens becomes viable enough for consumer use, but until that time, we just have one-off devices like this one.