We're getting a glimpse of the future. The Tecno Phantom Ultimate 2 is a trifold folding smartphone, and while it's just a concept right now, it's a fascinating indication of where manufacturers are taking foldable designs.
A step up from folding phones like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6, which has a single hinge and two panels for a single fold, the Phantom Ultimate 2 has two hinges and three panels. In other words, it can be folded three times – and it looks great.
The Tecno Phantom Ultimate 2 starts with a 6.48-inch screen, but what's most impressive is that in this form the device is only 11mm thick. Yes, Honor made the Honor Magic V3 folding phone a little thicker at 9mm, but the Phantom Ultimate adds another panel and hinge to its design. A special battery cover that's just 0.25mm also helps give the Phantom Ultimate 2 its incredibly slim profile.
Open the panel, and the phone becomes a 10-inch tablet with a 4:3 aspect ratio, which is much bigger than the roughly 7-inch screens used on current folding phones. It actually becomes a full-sized tablet rather than a mini tablet, and Tecno has figured out a clever use of its double-hinge system.
Flip the unfolded phone into portrait orientation, and the bottom-most panel can be folded slightly to support the device on a desk. A virtual keyboard appears on the screen, helping to make this a surprisingly cute laptop. Tecno says the hinges are very sturdy and can surpass 300,000 folds while minimizing any creases on the unfolded screen (double the hinges means double the screen creases, don't forget).
Tecno has also done some software magic so that the icons and user interface adapt to the phone's orientation. For example, the phone can be placed between two people who can use one side of the screen. This could be useful for collaboration or translation features, as we've seen from Samsung and Google. The rest of the hardware specifications are not known, but we can see that it has three cameras set inside a raised side section, somewhat like the Huawei Mate XS. A potential downside to this camera design is that it can't lie flat on a desk.
The Phantom Ultimate 2 follows the Phantom Ultimate rollable phone, and both are concept phones. Tecno is not saying when either of these phones will go into production, if at all. That doesn't mean it's a great phone. The triple-folding smartphone isn't exactly being explored, as Huawei has been (intentionally and unintentionally) teasing its own trifold phone, Its full announcement is expected this year.