Triple-screen foldable
phones are coming

Tecno has unveiled the first triple-screen handset that has been formally introduced to the world: the Phantom Ultimate 2. 

Described as a “tri-fold concept smartphone”, Tecno says it “reimagines the large-screen experience in a pocket-sized device”. Honor is expected to unveil its own tri-fold this week at the IFA tech expo in Berlin, while Huawei is expected to launch its version later this month. Oppo teased its equivalent in a post on Chinese social media site Weibo last week, but has since removed the reveal. 

Going by their general release strategies, we should not expect to see the Oppo or Tecno phones here, as the market appears to be too insignificant for them to have even brought in their dual-screen foldables. Neither the Tecno Phantom V Fold, released in April 2023, nor the Oppo Find N3 Flip, released in September last year, have been released in South Africa. This has been a standard approach to flagship phones from the two brands, with neither the Tecno Phantom X nor the Oppo Find X premium ranges sold in South Africa. 

However, unlike its rivals, Tecno has gone so far as to show the world exactly what its device looks like, in a video that shows off both its design and its functionality. Since it is only a concept phone, though, its step ahead of the rivals is likely to be a flash-in-the-pan as Honor and Huawei release real working devices.

The Tecno video reveals a device that looks a little like a layered cake, but unfolds neatly and apparently seamlessly into the equivalent of what is probably a 10-inch display, i.e. standard tablet size. Three lenses on the back and what looks like an LED flash or depth sensor suggests strong camera capabilities.

Unfolded, the device looks about as thin as an Honor V2 a foldable phone, while the folded up mode gives it a Galaxy Z Fold bulk, although the website BGR puts it at 11mm thin, compared to the Fold 6 at 12mm. BGR says the device has a 6.48-inch display when folded, and becomes a 10-inch tablet with a 4:3 aspect ratio when unfolded.

The unfolded screen  shows off multiple functionality that includes having a keyboard on the bottom screen while folding the next two screens into multitasked windows – one showing text in a Word-like interface and the other showing a video.

The front screen looks fairly narrow and therefore each of the screens would be as narrow, similar to the front screen size of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 or 6. That means it probably won’t be comfortable working on only the front screen, especially for typing. Opened up, however, it is likely to be a marvel of productivity.

It appears to detect its orientation automatically, allowing one to work in a vertical format or a horizontal format. That will probably be courtesy of a toggle button that determines the orientation of one’s display, but it would be great if the phone could pick it up automatically

It has a very cool Lenovo Yoga-type fold-over option, where the bottom screen is a flat keyboard, the next screen up is an angled working screen, while the top screen folds over the other way for someone sitting on the other side of the table or desk to view what the user is showing them.

It also allows the other person to collaborate on that screen, working on the same document or image that the device’s user is displaying or amending, but each on a separate screen.

If it works as advertised, this will be both a productivity and an entertainment mean machine. However, we know nothing about the quality of the screens, the power of the processor, or the strength of the cameras.

It truly is a case of, watch this – large – space.

View the Tecno Ultimate 2 showcase video here.