I’ve spent most of the past few weeks with an otherwise unremarkable midrange Android phone with one amazing feature: a matte OLED display. That screen is by far the best thing about the TCL P80 Ultra, and oddly enough, it made me more excited for the iPhone Duo and its matte inner display.
2023’s TCL Nxtpaper 40 brought matte displays to the company’s phones for the first time after appearing on tablets in 2021. Nxtpaper is more than a simple matte finish on a panel; it also includes a paperlike feel and low-power, monochrome modes that create a reasonable facsimile of an E Ink screen. But the matte effect has always been the biggest draw for me.
The screen of the P80 Ultra is special because it is the first to combine the Nxtpaper tech with an OLED panel. That means it’s the best Nxtpaper screen yet, with deeper blacks, better contrast and richer colors. Previous models felt a bit visually compromised; not this one. It also finally enables an always-on display. Always-on displays have been the norm on Android for years, and the fact that TCL’s Nxtpaper phones didn’t have them was a deal breaker for many.
I’ve used a few Nxtpaper phones over the past few years, but usually found the trade-offs—both over the specs and the screen itself—never quite made sense. In some respects, that’s still true of the P80 Ultra, which I don’t quite recommend as a phone in its own right. Performance was slow and stuttering, and while the triple rear camera has decent enough specs on paper, photo quality is distinctly average.
The difference now is that the display feels like any upside. As an OLED, it’s bright and beautiful, with enough color and contrast to suit both scrolling and streaming. But the matte finish keeps it comfortable to watch, even at cranked brightness or in a dimly lit room, with less flicker and blue light than most other displays. The anti-glare effect of Nxtpaper makes this a really excellent phone to use in brighter environments. It looked great under the bright lights of TCL’s IFA trade show booth, no mean feat. And the viewing angles are really excellent, with good visibility even when the phone is almost entirely on its side. That’s without touching the texture, which is smooth and satiny, so your finger holds just a little less when swiping. It’s a small thing, but a welcome one.
Since this is a Nxtpaper phone, it goes a little further. A dedicated button on the side of the phone triggers one of two more significant revisions to the display. Paper mode washes out the color of the display – or can go completely monochromatic if you prefer – to make it even easier on your eyes, with the option to shut down individual apps so they run as usual. Streaming apps and games are exempt by default. Max Ink Mode is more drastic: It’s strictly monochrome and removes access to most apps and OS features, giving you a power-efficient mode with minimal distractions, turning the P80 Ultra into something between an e-reader and a dumb phone.
Although most other phones are limited to aftermarket matte screen protectors to get something like the same effect, TCL is not the only manufacturer making hardware with a matte display. Huawei has made a series of tablets with what it calls PaperMatte panels, and Lenovo and Xiaomi offer similar screens on select models. Matte screens emphasize the picturesque effect of Samsung’s Frame TVs (and imitations from rivals including TCL). And then, of course, there’s Apple’s nano-textured glass.
Apple has offered this coating as an option on iPad Pro models since 2024, selling it on the basis that its paper-like qualities are beneficial to anyone who uses the iPad Pro as a drawing device. It now appears on a phone for the first time with the iPhone Duo, with Apple relying on the anti-glare effect to minimize the visibility of the foldable panel.
I haven’t had a chance to try the duo yet, but using the P80 Ultra has me more excited. Pairing a matte effect with the Duo’s large inner screen sounds great, and it’s one of the few elements of the Duo that no Android foldable can match right now. My only doubt is that Apple didn’t include the outer panel either – an odd choice, given how much it emphasized the seamless switch between the two screens – so I’m afraid the transition could be jarring. Given the book-style form factor, Apple will also be missing a trick if it doesn’t create its own e-reader-inspired mode to match the duo for TCL’s, although the existing grayscale mode could be a decent imitation.
Perhaps what is most exciting about an iPhone adopting a matte panel is that within the year we will probably imitate Android brands, something that TCL could not inspire. We’ve already seen the Duo’s squat form factor appear in phones from Samsung, Xiaomi, and Huawei, with Motorola also having its own. The duo’s matte layer hasn’t spawned its own imitators yet, but I suspect it’s only a matter of time, especially if it helps hide foldable wrinkles. Not every phone has to be matte, but I would like more of them to give me the option. Hopefully the influence of Apple’s industry will grant me my wish.