TCL's matte OLED screen builds anticipation for Apple's iPhone Duo
In a hands-on review of the TCL P80 Ultra, The Verge's Dominic Preston says the phone's matte OLED display has left him more eager to try Apple's upcoming foldable iPhone Duo, which will feature a similarly textured inner screen. While the phone itself is unremarkable, its display technology stands out as a notable advance.
The Verge journalist Dominic Preston spent recent weeks testing the TCL P80 Ultra, a midrange Android phone whose standout feature is a matte OLED display. According to his account, this screen is what makes him more excited about Apple's upcoming foldable iPhone Duo, which will also include a matte inner display.
TCL introduced matte displays under the Nxtpaper name on its phones starting in 2023, after first using the technology on tablets in 2021. Beyond the matte finish, Nxtpaper also offers a paper-like texture and low-power monochrome modes resembling E Ink screens. The P80 Ultra is the first model to combine Nxtpaper with an OLED panel, delivering deeper blacks, better contrast, and richer colors than earlier versions. It also enables an always-on display, a feature missing from previous Nxtpaper phones.
Strengths and weaknesses
Preston notes that the phone overall is not particularly impressive — performance is sluggish and camera quality is average. However, he considers the display an unambiguous highlight: it's bright, suited for both scrolling and streaming, and its matte surface reduces glare, eye strain, and blue light exposure. Alongside the standard mode, the phone offers Paper Mode and Max Ink Mode, which convert the display into a monochrome, power-saving format similar to an e-reader.
Other manufacturers, including Huawei, Lenovo, and Xiaomi, also use matte displays in their devices, while Apple has offered nano-texture glass as an option on iPad Pro models since 2024. This technology is now coming to a phone for the first time with the upcoming foldable iPhone Duo, where it will help reduce the visibility of the crease at the fold. Preston expresses some concern that Apple did not also apply a matte finish to the outer screen, which could make the transition between the two displays feel inconsistent.
