Another tri-fold phone from a Chinese company is in our midst after we spotted one from Huawei. But this time it’s the Phantom Ultimate 2, a concept phone from Tecno that was unveiled at the IFA tech conference in Berlin on Tuesday. Tecno says its concept folding phone “reinvents the big-screen experience in a pocket-sized device.” Unlike book-style foldable phones like Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 6 or Google’s Pixel 9 Pro Fold, the Phantom Ultimate 2’s cover screen unfolds into a larger “screen” at 10 inches, which is significantly larger than the 7.6- and 8-inch displays of its book-style counterparts.

However, Tecno says the Ultimate 2 doesn’t compromise on portability. The tri-fold phone concept is 11.1 millimeters thick – that’s just a few millimeters thicker than current book-style phones. The Phantom Ultimate 2’s thinness is partly helped by its slim battery, which measures just 0.25 millimeters. No details were given on the device’s weight, although Tecno says its foldable concept is designed with hinges tested to withstand 300,000 folds, which is 200,000 folds less than leading book-style phones like the Honor Magic V3.

Tecno is no newcomer to foldable phones. Last year, the company globally launched its first folding phone, the Phantom V Flip 5G, and its book phone, the Phantom V Fold. The next-generation models are expected to launch in September. Tecno – as well as rivals like Huawei, OnePlus and Google – are looking to grab a bigger share of the foldable phone market, which is usually dominated by Samsung, which launched its sixth generation of foldable phones in August. While the subcategory currently makes up just a fraction of the broader foldable phone market, that share of the pie is growing. According to research firm International Data Corporation, the global foldable phone market is expected to reach 25 million units by the end of 2024, up 37.6% from the 18.1 million units shipped in 2023. According to IDC forecasts, global foldable phone shipments are expected to reach 45.7 million units by 2028, representing a compound annual growth rate of 20.3% for the period 2023-2028.

A video released by Tecno illustrates various use cases of the Phantom Ultimate 2. One frame showed a customized multitasking with three different vertically aligned windows, making use of each of the screens. Another part showed the different ways the Ultimate 2 could fold, including a mode where it mimicked the experience of a laptop: the base screen was used flat for typing like a keyboard, while the two remaining displays remained stacked like a laptop screen.

Additionally, Tecno says it enables face-to-face interactions in different languages ​​in “tent mode” (pictured below), with AI handling real-time language translation. The company says the Phantom Ultimate 2 runs on software that offers a “user experience specifically optimized for the tri-fold design.”

Tri-folding concept phones, for their part, are nothing new. Samsung gave us a glimpse of tri-folding concepts back in 2022 at CES. Before that, TCL showed a concept in 2020. But none of them were released or mass-produced for commercial sale. Earlier this month, however, Huawei’s alleged tri-folding phone was spotted in the hands of Richard Yu, the former CEO of Huawei’s Consumer Business Group, leading to speculation that the Chinese company could potentially be the first to launch the world’s first tri-folding phone.

Phone makers are racing to create the slimmest foldable phone. Honor, a former subsidiary of Huawei, has the edge with the Magic V3 – literally a hair’s breadth ahead of Xiaomi’s Mix Fold 4. The benefits of an ultra-slim book-style phone mean that a dual-display phone is basically as portable as a traditional candybar-shaped smartphone. It’s not too hard to see how slim hardware could benefit multi-hinged phones like the Ultimate 2 – whether it comes to market or not.

Check this out: TCL impresses with concept phones, Google Assistant gets a new trick

01:17