TCL’s bet on screens that look like paper

Since 2021, TCL has been investing in an intriguing screen technology called NXTPAPER: an LCD panel that attempts to simulate paper to be less harsh on human eyes. As someone who spends more time than recommended looking at screens, this greatly interests me.

The Chinese manufacturer announced a new version at CES 2025, called NXTPAPER 4.0. It brings a “significant advancement” in the weak point of previous versions, (low) brightness, thanks to a “sophisticated nano-matrix lithography technology”.

I don’t know what this means, but it seems to have yielded results. The screen of the Tablet 11 Plus, one of the devices with NXTPAPER 4.0 announced, reaches up to 550 nits. This value doesn’t compare to the best traditional screens, but it should be readable.

In addition to the tablet (still without price or release date), TCL also announced a phone, the TCL 60 XE NXTPAPER 5G. (Good name, marketing folks.) Both tablet and phone have an “NXTPAPER Key” that toggles between conventional mode and “Max Ink Mode,” which, according to TCL, “turns the display into an e-ink format designed to reduce eye strain and ensure maximum eye comfort.”

When activated, Max Ink Mode also disables notifications and adds a super nice side effect that I’ll only believe when I see it: a huge increase in battery life, up to 7 days of reading and 26 days (!) on standby. It will be released first in Canada, in May, for USD 199.

The rest of the 60 XE phone’s specifications seem decent, a level above those of its predecessor that Marques Brownlee tested, liked, but not enough to recommend it.

Some videos show the “NXTPAPER Key” and “Max Ink Mode” in action. TCL made a clip (13min) of the section where they discussed mobile devices in their CES presentation and made it available on YouTube.

While E-Ink (company) tries to make its screen technology (the one used in Kindle) faster, some manufacturers have been betting on the same approach as TCL and are trying to make conventional screens more eye-friendly. The startup Daylight launched an (expensive) tablet in 2024 with an even more aggressive proposal — black and white LCD panel, similar to those of calculators.