The TCL 60XE switches from color to grayscale in an instant – and it's the coolest thing I saw at CES

TCL 60XE NXTpaper 5G Android smartphone (Image credit: Future/Jacob Krol)

I found the TCL 60XE NXTpaper 5G phone on the show floor at CES, as I didn't want to leave Vegas without seeing it.
It switches from a color screen to a grayscale one in seconds.
It won TechRadar's Best Mobile Phone of CES 2025.

In between hands-on time with Sony’s prototype Xyn headset and getting a remote drive around Las Vegas, I headed for TCL’s extravagant booth at CES 2025. Why? Well, the answer lies in the GIF below, showing a smartphone switching from a color display to a grayscale one that rapidly extends the battery life.

This is the TCL 60XE NXTpaper 5G Android smartphone, which, thanks to the custom display technology, can transform from an FHD+ to one that resembles a matte grayscale that's kind of akin to a newspaper. Still, it’s a fully functional Android phone with TCL’s user interface, though you’re limited to using seven apps in this mode. The good news is that you can pick those, and it takes just a few seconds for the screen to transform.

Watch the screen switch on the TCL 60XE NXTpaper 5G Android smartphone. — (Image credit: Future/Jacob Krol)

I can’t underscore enough how neat and intuitive this easy switch is and the benefits that are supposedly associated with it, seeing that other TCL NXTpaper devices have plenty of battery life, which is a trait with this forthcoming smartphone. In my brief testing on the show floor at the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show, even though it’s clearly in a black and white mode, animations still rendered smoothly, and it was pretty responsive to my touch inputs.

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Aside from the shock and wow of the display transformation, the real neat factor is TCL pushing its NXTpaper into new forms, and the potential battery life wins here. TCL is saying it can last for a full week, an entire seven days of constant use, or 26 days in standby. That’s pretty impressive, and remember, this is still an LCD screen with some extra layers that allow it to go from color to this less power-intensive mode.

It’s a decent-sized phone, with a 6.8-inch screen including a front-facing selfie camera and a rear stack with a 50-megapixel unit on the back. It also supports wireless charging and has a USB-C port on the bottom. The TCL 60XE NXTpaper felt quite nice in my hand, and even for a larger-sized smartphone, it was fairly easy to handle.

CES 2025 square badge — (Image credit: Future)

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I also appreciated that the switch was easy to find on the bottom right-hand side to swap between the two display types. I flipped it back and forth several times with no issue, and viewing it on a bright show floor was easy.

Between the potential of an ultra-long runtime and two display options from a single screen, there is a lot to like here on the 60XE NXTpaper and it’ll be interesting to see if this arrives on future TCL phones as well. Not to mention, it also won our best mobile phone of CES 2025. Check out our 24 other picks here.

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Jacob Krol is the US Managing Editor, News for TechRadar. He’s been writing about technology since he was 14 when he started his own tech blog. Since then Jacob has worked for a plethora of publications including CNN Underscored, TheStreet, Parade, Men’s Journal, Mashable, CNET, and CNBC among others.

He specializes in covering companies like Apple, Samsung, and Google and going hands-on with mobile devices, smart home gadgets, TVs, and wearables. In his spare time, you can find Jacob listening to Bruce Springsteen, building a Lego set, or binge-watching the latest from Disney, Marvel, or Star Wars.