MWC 2026 is in full swing here in Barcelona, Spain, and while my usual beat for TechRadar is all things computing, I’ve been walking around the show floor of this huge tech event on the lookout for a new smartphone to get excited about.
I’ve felt for a while that smartphone designs and technology have hit a plateau. The hardware and form factor are now pretty much perfect for what we currently use our phones for (doom scrolling, taking photos, and making the rare phone call, essentially, in my case), which has left phone makers scrambling to find a reason to convince us to upgrade from our perfectly fine handsets.
I say ‘surprising’ because I’ve always associated TCL with TVs, so when I was invited to check out its smartphones and tablets, I was intrigued – and that quickly turned to excitement.
TCL’s display expertise has produced a series of smartphones with the company’s NXTPAPER screen tech, which are essentially color e-paper displays similar to what you’d fine on a high-end ebook reader, and its latest flagship phones, the TCL NXTPAPER 70 Pro (which features the latest generation of this tech) caught my eye straight away.
The phone also features an additional key, though unlike my S4 Ultra’s Bixby button that I immediately changed from calling up Samsung’s unlovable virtual assistant to something actually worth using, the 70 Pro’s NXTPAPER Key could see a lot more action. It switches the display between several modes: Colour Paper Mode, Ink Paper Mode and Max Ink Mode, and it does so with a rather cool-looking ripple transition animation. The Max Ink Mode is the most ebook-like screen setting, with a simple black and white display that should be ideal for reading on – and prolongs the TCL NXTPAPER 70 Pro’s battery life on standby to a huge 26 days.
You can also use a stylus for doodling and writing notes, with the T-Pen stylus offering a pleasantly responsive experience, especially with the NXTPAPER’s paper-like surface. Elsewhere, the specs seems decent for a smartphone, with a 50MP main camera, 8MP ultra-wide, and 32MP front camera. The chip is a MediaTek Dimensity 7300, and comes with 8GB RAM that can be expanded to 24GB, with 512GB storage.
So, this would likely be a downgrade in performance from my S24 Ultra (especially its photo-taking abilities), but gosh, that screen is gorgeous. And, with a starting price of €299 (around $350 / £260 / AU$500), it’s a very compelling price, and much cheaper than the $1,299.99 ( £1,279 / AU$2,199) Samsung would demand of me if I were to upgrade to the S26 Ultra.
However, just as I was seriously weighing up getting the TCL NXTPAPER 70 Pro, TCL went and showed me something that immediately made me put those plans on hold.
NXTPAPER + AMOLED = take my money!
TCL’s major announcement at MWC is the next generation of NXTPAPER, which combines the e-paper display of NXTPAPER with AMOLED screen technology.
This results in an absolutely stunning and vibrant display, and TCL had handsets on show with the screen. Everything that impressed me with NXTPAPER was present, including the flicker-free, anti-glare experience, but with a level of color vibrancy and detail that really impressed me. Thanks to the AMOLED tech, the handsets on show were also noticeably lighter than the TCL NXTPAPER 70 Pro.
I mentioned how I’d love to read comics on this screen, and there must be a fellow comic book fan at TCL, as they had plenty of examples of what comics would look like using this tech – and I was blown away. Images popped and text was clear, and the paper-like display made for a much more comfortable reading experience, whilst also giving you a similar experience to reading a physical comic.
I immediately started planning to buy whatever device comes with this screen, but at the moment the handsets are all pre-production, and there’s no solid release date, though I was told it would be ‘soon’.
It definitely meant I’m going to put my search for a new phone on hold until I see handsets with the NXTPAPER and AMOLED screens in the wild, and while Samsung’s innovative Privacy Display is a cool feature with some admirable goals behind it, I’m far less interested in protecting my privacy, and more enthusiastic about firing up my Marvel Unlimited subscription to catch up on my beloved X-Men instead. Stupid? Yes. Nerdy? Of course! Inevitable? Absolutely.
TechRadar is on the show floor for this year’s MWC (Mobile World Congress) in Barcelona, Spain, and we’ll be covering the latest news from some of the biggest names in mobile, computing, fitness and more.
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matthew.hanson@futurenet.com (Matt Hanson)
