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Modern phone screens, including the best OLEDs, aren’t perfect. They flicker, usually with low pulse width modulation (PWM), and this can be annoying or downright painful for some people. They are also not ideal for use in direct sunlight, as their shiny glass coatings can experience glare, limiting visibility. If you want to use your phone as an e-reader or limit distractions, most flagships lack the paper-like visuals needed for the best experience.
There is one company trying to solve all these problems, TCL, but the brand’s phones rarely make it into the US. I went out of my way to buy the TCL 60 XE NXTPAPER 5G, a low-end model actually available stateside that had to deal with slow speeds, a sparse camera system, and budget-caliber build quality. On MWC 2026TCL showed off the NXTPAPER 70 Pro, which is a much stronger offering that’s finally coming to the US next month.
Most devices try to hold your attention as much as possible, inundating you with vivid colors, constant notifications, and an abundance of distractions. In comparison, TCL’s upcoming phone has a dedicated slider that lets you remove the noise in an instant.
An underrated part of NXTPAPER phones is their built-in frosted glass display cover. Most phones are glossy, and this finish attracts fingerprints and adds unwanted glare. You can fix that with a matte screen protector, but doing so usually means compromising on a plastic film version, which isn’t ideal. With this solution, you get the premium feel and durability of glass while still receiving the anti-smudge and anti-glare benefits.
TCL had a good demo at IFA 2025 that showed the difference between an NXTPAPER matte screen and a standard glossy screen in challenging lighting conditions. The problem? The flagship shown there, the NXTPAPER 60 Ultranever came to the US That’s what makes the TCL NXTPAPER 70 Pro so exciting.
For the average user, the standout feature is the NXTPAPER key. It cycles through four color modes: full color, color paper mode, ink paper mode and max ink mode. It is important to note that this is not an e-ink display, it simply simulates that effect using an LCD. However, it does an excellent job with that. Color Paper Mode makes your phone look like a Kindle Colorsoft with a paper-like appearance and muted colors, while Ink Paper Mode does the same in a black and white environment.
Max Ink Mode is the really cool part. This mode not only enables a paper-like black-and-white viewing experience, but also limits the available apps and notifications. The idea is that you can use your phone as an e-reader without being distracted by other apps, such as social media or messaging apps. It’s like having a minimalist phone that can turn into a full-fledged Android flagship with the flick of a switch.
Besides improving your focus, Max Ink Mode is incredible for battery life. TCL says you can get seven days of battery life out of the NXTPAPER 70 Pro when using Max Ink Mode for reading. In standby mode, the phone can survive a full 26 days. We’ll have to confirm these claims for ourselves, but based on my time testing Max Ink Mode on other NXTPAPER phones, I think so.
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For those who suffer from PWM flicker sensitivity, the fact that this phone offers a truly flicker-free experience will feel like a breath of fresh air. The phone uses DC dimming and the brightness can be lowered to 1 nit. It’s also designed to try to block blue light and meets a few eye-friendly standards:
- Low Visual Fatigue A+2.1 SGS certification
- Dim-Light Eye Protection SGS certification
- Flicker-free TÜV certification
That’s all except the eye-friendly display that matters here, because typically buying an NXTPAPER phone in the US meant compromising on everything else. In this case, you get a MediaTek Dimensity 7300 processor, a 5,200 mAh battery and up to 512 GB of storage space. The primary camera is a solid 50MP sensor, and it’s complimented by an 8MP ultra-wide-angle lens. On the front you will find a 32 MP selfie camera.
The design of the TCL NXTPAPER 70 Pro is also excellent, although similar Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge from the back. It looks more premium than old American models that replaced fancy metal and glass with plastic.
The one thing we’re waiting to hear about the NXTPAPER 70 Pro is its US pricing. We know it starts at €299 with an optional €359 configuration in Europe, which comes out to $347 and $417 after conversions. That means we could be looking at $399 and $499 price points in the US, with availability from April 2026 stateside.
I still want TCL to give us more NXTPAPER phones
The hardware in the TCL NXTPAPER 70 Pro is no slouch, and between the MediaTek processor and refined build quality, it’s definitely entering the flagship realm. However, I would like to see TCL bring even more high-end smartphones to the US market. This is the first “Pro” phone with NXTPAPER technology to come, but I’d like to see an “Ultra” model debut soon.
