MWC 2026 is in full force right now, and Tecno is showcasing new phones and devices. However, perhaps the most interesting device at Tecno's booth is one that feels like a bit of a throwback.
The Tecno Modular Phone harkens back to a time when modular phones were all the rage. Companies like Motorola and LG tried it, but it never took off. Google was also playing around with the idea of a modular phone, but it never came to fruition.
Now, Tecno is showing what's what possible in a world filled with MagSafe, though not relying on it to make it work.
The Tecno Modular Phone concept itself is incredibly thin; so thin, in fact, that it would make the iPhone Air and Galaxy S25 Edge reach for the Ozempic. It's 4.9mm thick , which is so thin that it doesn't even have have a USB port. Instead, the phone features eight different "zones" where accessories attach magnetically to the back of the phone via pogo pins. Tecno showcased a whole suite of accessories that can be added to the phone for different purposes.
A telephoto extender, for example, extends the phone's zoom range beyond the sensor's, providing a zoom range from 3.5x to 10x. And if you want to take things much further, you can use the Tecno Telephoto Lens, a camera like camera-like grip that adds 10-20x zoom, using a sensor that itself has optical image stabilization.
Interestingly, you have to connect wirelessly to the Telephoto Lens as it uses the phone's display as a viewfinder. In my use, the viewfinder felt very laggy, but it could have been due to the environment (my Bluetooth earbuds were acting up).
According to Tecno, the phone uses a combination of Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and mmWave to connect to the modules, which should ensure a low-latency/high-bandwidth connection. That said, it's important to keep in mind that it is a concept, but it was cool to see the camera software adjust to the newly added hardware.
Other modules included things like a mic, a speaker, something that looked like a selfie mirror and light, and even a slick-looking antenna attachment that was said to boost your phone's connection, even when you can't seem to find one (which sounds too good to be true).
My favorite was probably the power bank, a 3,000mAh battery pack that measures just 4.5mm. And the best part is that Tecno's Modular Magnetic Interconnection Technology allows multiple modules to be connected so, meaning you can have multiple slim battery packs for a boost in battery life, or you can turn the phone into the ultimate media device.
Tecno also showcased the devices and modules in two distinctive styles and colors, and you'd almost think they were two completely different phones.
What I was surprised to see was that this concept phone actually functioned. The screen turned on, I could scroll through apps, I could test the camera modules, and more. I don't know what chipset is being used to power the Modular Phone Concept, but given the "concept" part of the name, it doesn't matter anyway since there's little chance we'll actually see this hit the market.
It just feels highly impractical to expect consumers to carry around a suite of modules. The telephoto lens module, for example, is quite heavy, and nearly fell completely off and onto a hard surface when I tried to hand the phone to someone.
Modular phones also just haven't done well in the past, with Google canceling Project Ara, LG giving up on its "friends" experiment with the modular G5, and Motorola's admittedly excellent Moto Mods quickly falling into irrelevancy as the company did. The cost seem to outweigh the usefulness, with companies having to continuously invest in maintaining the modular accessories, but also on the consumer side, with buyers needing to justify spending money on a new smartphone and add-ons.
Ultimately, modular phones just aren't what consumers want, despite how cool they look.
Still, it's great to see Tecno trying "new" things, even if the Modular modular phone concept is a bit "been there, done that." I just just which some of Tecno's other concepts would make the light of day, such as the excellent Phantom Ultimate G trifold phone.
