Tecno Modular Phone: Ultra-thin, magnetic smartphone in hands-on

The Chinese company Transition is hardly common, but is one of the largest smartphone manufacturers in the world. At the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, ​​the subsidiary brand “Tecno” is now attracting attention with an exciting modular concept cell phone.

Various modules can be attached to the back using a combination of magnetism and pin connectors. This technology, called “Modular Magnetic Interconnection”, is intended to enable efficient and low-heat power supply.

Instead of a static smartphone, users can tailor the device to their personal needs at any time: If you need more battery, simply attach one or more power banks to the back. These are also only 4.5 mm thin, so even with the module attached it hardly seems thicker than a typical cell phone.

If you want to expand the individual camera lens, you can dock a better zoom lens or a huge telephoto lens on the back. There is also a kind of controller to convert the device into a Game Boy. Tecno is showing ten different modules at MWC.

Over time, various manufacturers have tried modular smartphones, such as this LG G5 (test). The design seemed rather impractical, there were hardly any modules and the idea was abandoned by LG a short time later.

Tecno’s approach, on the other hand, seems much more intuitive and practical – it was very well received at the MWC. Still, it’s questionable whether it will ever get out of the concept phase. According to Tecno, the module system is designed as a “scalable platform.” If it is made openly available to third-party developers, the project could have an exciting future.