Render images of TCL's hybrid smartphone with slide-out display surface online

Image source: CNET

At a time when smartphone manufacturers are experimenting with a variety of form factors to differentiate their version of the foldable smartphone, TCL seems to have taken a different approach with a slide-out screen.

Even as  Samsung, Motorola and Huawei launched their respective foldable - book, clamshell design - smartphones, the new TCL prototype is likely to be a hybrid phone-tablet device, render images uploaded by CNET showed.

The name and specifications of the TCL device are unknown. But the render images show that the TCL smartphone's screen does not fold and may not be called a foldable smartphone unlike the Galaxy Fold or the Mate X. It instead seems to be a smartphone-tablet hybrid, where the screen slides out to offer more screen space, as per the CNET renders.

At first, the TCL smartphone looks like a normal device with a dual punch-hole screen that has curved edges. The rear panel has a quad-camera setup stacked on the corner. 

For the slide-out mechanism, it seems like the smartphone has a break in the chassis (right above the punch hole), where the extra screen can be pulled out. It is being speculated that one portion of the flexible screen bends or wraps behind the other to achieve the slide-out mechanism. The render images do not show any sign of a crease.

TCL’s hybrid smartphone-tablet smartphone could have been showcased at the MWC 2020, which was cancelled due to COVID-19. It is unclear when the company will unveil the product if it plans to make it available for mass-market use.