TCL's 60 XE Nxtpaper 5G Phone Can Mimic An E-Ink Display For Easy Reading

TCL has announced a slew of new phones and a tablet at the 2025 Mobile World Congress (MWC) tech convention in Barcelona, Spain. While the devices won't exactly set the world on fire, a few models do raise some curious eyebrows, such as TCL's later iteration of its e-ink-like Nxtpaper display technology and a $200 5G phone with a monster 108-megapixel camera sensor. Only one model will be sold in the United States, and sadly, it won't be the THAT phone.

If you've never heard of TCL's Nxtpaper display, it's the Chinese company's attempt at recreating paper-like viewing on a Nxtpaper-equipped device. The platform is said to reduce blue-light emissions and glare which can greatly reduce eye strain, especially for long viewing sessions and low-light conditions. Due to the low-glare properties of the display coating, the screen possesses a paper-like feel to the touch. In practice, the user experience is rather like using an e-ink reader, except with punchier colors and way faster refresh rates.


At MWC this week, TCL announced eight new phones—three of which sport the latest Nxtpaper 4.0—along with the Nxtpaper 11 Plus tablet, which aims to combine visual comfort and AI-powered productivity. Pricewise, all the devices are decidedly budget-friendly; none of them breach the $350 mark, in fact. While TCL appears merely as a small blip on the global phone sales chart, its phones have seen more uptakes in 2024, which means these new models should help with the bottom line this year.

Some of the highlights of the announcement include the TCL 60 SE ($180) and R ($125) budget models. Both share similar displays—6.7-inch HD+ LCD panels with 120Hz refresh rate. The phones will be powered by a Mediatek Dimensity 6300 chipset. There's a Nxtpaper version of the 60 SE for $200, of course. It will have AI features (in collaboration with Microsoft) with processing coming from the same Dimensity chipset 6300 matched with 8GB RAM and 256GB internal storage.

The TCL 60 XE Nxtpaper 5G is the only US-bound TCL phone this time. It has the same display and processor as above, a 5,200 mAh battery, IP54 dust-water rating, and 18GB RAM/256GB ROM. The model we DO wish TCL would bring to the U.S. is the TCL 60 Nxtpaper. Sure, it has arguably better specs all-round, like a 6.8-inch FHD+ Nxtpaper panel, Mediatek Helio G92 SoC, and 18GB RAM/512GB storage, but the most curious part is the cameras. In the rear, the main star is the 108MP which, assuming is tuned right, would be fantastic even compared to higher price brackets.


TCL also debuted the 6.5mm thin/thick 11.5-inch TCL Nxtpaper 11 Plus tablet, a follow-up to the well-received Nxtpaper 11. The display is quite impressive, on paper anyway, rocking an 11.5-inch real estate, 2.2K resolution with 120Hz refresh rate, plus 100% sRGB color accuracy. There's a MediaTek Helio G100 processor with up to 12GB/256GB, and an 8,000mAh battery. It'd be sold in the U.S. for roughly $260.

Release dates for each model will be announced at a later time.