The Phantom Ultimate Gives Us Another Look at Rollable Phones

Months after TECNO revealed their Phantom Ultimate rollable concept phone, the brand chose MWC 2024 as the perfect venue to present a fully functional model to members of the media. While OPPO and Lenovo unveiled their rollable concept phones, TECNO’s execution looks promising and shows progress on what can be the next flexible form factor after foldable displays.

Similar to OPPO’s execution with the X 2021 rollable, the Phantom Ultimate has a button on top that lets the display unroll from 6.55 inches to 7.11 inches. The flexible AMOLED panel has a 2296×1596 resolution when unrolled and boasts 1100nits brightness and 120hz adaptive refresh rate.

During our experience with it, we noticed that the Phantom Ultimate was able to roll out the display faster compared to the X 2021. Its overall build is just as solid as the X 2021 with its use of aluminum for the frame. This shows how refined TECNO is when it comes to its concept phones. TECNO claims that the Phantom Ultimate’s rollable mechanism is rated for 100,000 rolls, which is not bad for such a new technology.

The Phantom Ultimate has a party trick similar to the Motorola Rizr concept, where the remainder of the display is tucked to the back when it’s rolled in. That part of the display functions as an Always-On Display, and its larger area means that it can display more information.

While the Phantom Ultimate is a concept phone–TECNO has no plans yet of making it into commercial production–this unique device is another proof that rollable phones can become an alternative to foldable phones in the future.