I Tried Tecno's Modular Phone Concept At Mwc - And It Quickly Got Weird

1 week ago

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ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

Tecno's magnetic modular telephone is simply a impervious of conception without a merchandise date.
It's bladed and light, and nan modular artillery creation is cool.
The magnets aren't beardown enough, and nan camera modules request immoderate work.

Tecno is ever a delightful sojourn during MWC, nan marque has a history of bringing absorbing concepts to bear. This year, location are a brace of them, including a tri-fold telephone I couldn't dive into, arsenic a information instrumentality prevented maine from moreover closing it connected nan showroom floor.

This conception is different from nan Z-shaped foldable telephone it showed past year. Instead, it folds doubly to nan center, for illustration nan Samsung Trifold, pinch nan extracurricular surface connected 1 of nan wings. But nan different conception was nan 1 that caught my attention: a magnetic modular phone.

Also: What to expect astatine MWC 2026: Best phones I'm anticipating from Xiaomi, Honor, and more

Modular phones are seemingly nan dream among telephone enthusiasts. Who wouldn't want to build their ain phone? This telephone starts disconnected pinch a small spot of an iPhone Air vibe to it. It's highly bladed and it has magnets and pogo pins connected nan backmost to connect nan modules. Right disconnected nan bat, I wish nan magnets were a spot stronger; nan modules were a tad wobbly.

Since nan telephone is simply a impervious of concept, Tecno didn't stock a spec sheet, but I was capable to glean a fewer things. First, it uses a MediaTek Dimensity 8350 processor pinch 256GB of retention and 12 GB of RAM. Also connected committee is simply a 3,000 mAh battery, which sounds small, but don't beryllium concerned, because now we tin talk astir nan modular components.

I'm judge it'll travel arsenic nary astonishment that location is simply a artillery module you tin connect to nan back. Each artillery is besides 3,000 mAh, and nan institution had 3 modules connected hand, and they are stackable, for a full of 12,000 mAh. That's beautiful cool by itself.

As for nan remainder of nan modules, nan astir mundane is simply a wallet mod. Even arsenic a instrumentality of MagSafe wallets, I recovered it difficult to get connected committee pinch this idea. Given really anemic nan magnets are, it conscionable doesn't consciousness safe.

Also: I tried Honor's ultra-thin foldable telephone astatine MWC 2026, and it's almost excessively powerful

There are 2 camera attachments. The first is an optical telephoto lens that adds 3x capacity by snapping it complete nan camera. Physics supports this, but I was amazed that nan images were inverted. This is normal erstwhile utilizing a magnifying lens for illustration this, but I would person thought that Tecno could hole it successful nan software. There's besides nary ultrawide camera module, which amazed me.

The different camera lens is simply a 100x optical telephoto camera module that requires a Wi-Fi relationship to nan phone. Doing truthful transmits nan images from nan camera to nan phone's viewfinder. When I tested it connected nan show floor, location was a decent magnitude of lag. That mightiness person been because inadequate Wi-Fi signals connected nan show level -- aliases it could beryllium a mediocre implementation. It's difficult to tell.

Finally, there's besides an action camera, which I didn't person a chance to trial because it wasn't moving decently connected nan show floor. The remainder of nan modules honestly autumn much nether nan class of "accessories" though.

There's a lavalier mic, pinch upwind screen, a ringing light/mirror combo you tin usage to return a selfie aliases movie yourself, and a Bluetooth speaker mod. None of these really person to beryllium attached to nan telephone to work, truthful it strains nan meaning of "modularity."

ZDNET's buying advice

Although it's still a impervious of concept, I'd for illustration to spot Tecno make immoderate improvements earlier I could urge nan phone. The magnets request to beryllium stronger, and nan camera attachments request immoderate work. Still, I spot this instrumentality arsenic nan belief successor to nan Moto Mods of old. But it faces nan aforesaid problem: erstwhile nan modules go available, Tecno has to committedness to instrumentality to nan shape factor, lest they go paperweights.

Also: I tested Xiaomi's matte-glass tablet for a month, and it efficaciously replaced my iPad

I believed Motorola erstwhile it said it would support mods for 4 years (and exceeded that mark, by nan way). I don't spot Tecno though. Yes, there's nan rumor of importing, but Tecno doesn't person nan storied estimation that Motorola does. Still, I for illustration nan thought here, and nan disposable modules person immoderate bully ideas, if Tecno could push things further.