TCL's ultra-affordable 60XE uses NXTpaper to potentially break all kinds of battery life records

(Image credit: TCL)

TCL unveils its TCL 60XE NXTpaper 5G Android phone
The NXTpaper tech makes week-long battery life possible
The price is impressive

I'm happy to celebrate the day-long battery life I get with most flagship iPhone and Android handsets, but what if they offered a week of battery life and cost $199 (around £160 / AU$320)? Impossible, right? Not if you're TCL, apparently. Today at CES 2025, the Chinese electronics giant best known for affordable big-screen TVs is bringing the TCL 60XE NXTpaper 5G Android phone to the US and Canada and, yes, it fits this bill.

This active 6.8-inch handset achieves 7 days of battery life using TCL's proprietary NXTPaper technology. TCL calls it E Ink-like but this is not electronic paper technology (I previously saw it on the 14-inch TCL NxTPaper 14 Pro). The FHD+ screen is still LCD but uses a series of layers to kill reflectivity and remove blue light. The combination gives NXTPaper-based screens an almost matte-paper, magazine-like look.

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So, yes, they're easy on the eyes but also a lot less bright. NXTPaper's technology makes it more of a power-sipping display. The TCL 60XE will not run in this mode all the time, though. There's a physical switch on the phone to enable the NXTPaper effect, and the 7-day battery life would be if you used it in NXTPaper mode 24/7 (standby would be an astounding 26 days).

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Interestingly, this new phone won't even feature the latest edition of TCL's NXTPaper technology. TCL told us that NXTPaper 4.0 will arrive later this year, but only on its new TCL NXTPaper 11 Plus tablet, also announced at CES. NXTPaper 4.0 uses nano-matrix lithography, a new screen etching process to create microstructures on the cover glass that effectively kill reflections without undermining visual quality.

It's not clear when NXTPaper 4.0 will arrive on handsets. The next best thing, NXTPaper 3.0, is available on the TCL 60XE, as well as a few other enticing features that might make it a surprise winner in the 2025 Android market.

Specs that include a 50MP front camera, 32MP rear camera, 256GB storage, and 8GB of RAM (expandable to 16GB) would normally add up to a phone that costs at least $800 (around £650 / AU$1,300). But TCL is bringing in the TCL 60XE at $199 in the US and Canada.

That's an unheard-of price for a phone that will last for days on a change (depending on how often you use the NXTPaper mode). As for build quality, camera capability, and overall performance, I'll know more when I get my hands on the new Android handset.

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A 38-year industry veteran and award-winning journalist, Lance has covered technology since PCs were the size of suitcases and “on line” meant “waiting.” He’s a former Lifewire Editor-in-Chief, Mashable Editor-in-Chief, and, before that, Editor in Chief of PCMag.com and Senior Vice President of Content for Ziff Davis, Inc. He also wrote a popular, weekly tech column for Medium called The Upgrade.

Lance Ulanoff makes frequent appearances on national, international, and local news programs including Live with Kelly and Mark, the Today Show, Good Morning America, CNBC, CNN, and the BBC.