Android phone TCL Nxtpaper 70 Pro: Matte screen becomes flicker-free

With plenty of storage space and eye-friendly screens, TCL is trying to gain market share in Android smartphones. The latest version is called TCL Nxtpaper 70 Pro and is scheduled to go on sale in February, according to an announcement at CES 2026. It is the smaller sibling of the Nxtpaper 60 Ultra. Less powerful, but more handy, and even more eye-friendly because it is flicker-free.

Under the Nxtpaper brand name, TCL has been selling mobile devices for years that bring classic LCD displays closer to the advantages of E-Ink screens without being E-Ink. Last year, the Chinese company introduced the fourth generation of the Nxtpaper. Above the particularly color-accurate LC display with a refresh rate of up to 120 Hertz is protective glass with a matte surface, which is unusual in the smartphone sector.

This significantly reduces reflections and fingerprints. At the same time, the glass is very hard and therefore better protected against scratches than the widespread Gorilla Glass. TCL also integrates circular polarizers (CPL), which also reduce reflections and improve color reproduction. In sum, at the same screen brightness, you can read more outdoors than with competing phones – on the other hand, the maximum brightness also ends at 900 nits. High-end phones achieve double that and more.

Another filter layer of the Nxtpaper 70 Pro absorbs “up to” 96 percent of blue light. This tires the eyes and inhibits the production of the sleep hormone melatonin, so it should be avoided, especially in the evening. The diagonal has shrunk a bit compared to the huge Nxtpaper 60 Ultra, to still a respectable 6.9 inches. The exact resolution is still unclear, but in any case, it is more than 1920 x 1080 pixels (FHD).

Similar to paper, interference-free on request

New is TCL's promise of flicker-freeness – this applies not only to the screen itself but also to the camera. If, for example, another screen comes into the camera's view, it is supposed to compensate for the flicker. The phone also supports operation with a stylus sold separately by TCL.

At the press of a button, the screen switches to ink-paper mode, which takes a few seconds. Then the phone runs in monochrome, with a light beige background and high-contrast grayscale. Videos, animations, and games still run, but in a more streamlined way, without colors.

There is also the Max-Ink mode. It looks the same but it terminates most applications. This significantly reduces power consumption and makes it easier to concentrate on reading. In Max-Ink mode, notifications only come through from apps that the user has explicitly authorized.

Decent storage space, less power

The mid-range phone will be launched in variants with 256 GB storage at a target price of 339 Euros and with 512 GB at 389 Euros. Additionally, the user can insert a second SIM card or a microSD card – a feature that has unfortunately become rare. The IP68 certification against water and dust is also a plus.

There are compromises in performance: the RAM has shrunk from twelve to eight gigabytes compared to the previous model. And instead of the Mediatek Dimensity 7400, there is only the 7300. The battery has a capacity of 5200 mAh and can be charged with up to 33 watts.

The main camera and selfie camera are likely to have remained the same, 50 megapixels and 32 megapixels, respectively. Selfie videos are limited to 1080p at 30 frames per second. Furthermore, TCL threatens that the selfie camera will automatically improve “your natural beauty” with artificial intelligence.

Otherwise, you have to pay for a lot of AI. This includes an interpreter, the transcription of audio recordings, and AI tools that are supposed to assist in drafting and understanding text. The Nxtpaper 70 Pro will be delivered with Android 16; unfortunately, TCL has not yet committed to the availability of future updates. Thanks to the Ökodesign-Richtlinie der EU, it must receive at least five years of security updates in the European Economic Area.

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