Hands on with the weirdest phone at MWC

I love a weird concept product, but Tecno’s take on modular smartphones is just not doing it for me.  

Shown off at this year’s Mobile World Congress, the concept product is the latest in a long line of attempts to make DIY devices stick. Back in 2018, there were Motorola’s MotoMods. Before that, there was Google’s Project Ara. The dream of a smartphone you can tweak and customise like a PC has been around for a long time.

And much like those earlier attempts, Tecno’s concept device is very much a product of its time. Recent years have seen phone manufacturers eschew the idiom that bigger is always better in favour of slimmer form-factors and this device fits right in alongside the likes of the iPhone Air with a profile of just 4.9mm. That’s almost as thin as Motorola’s Razr Fold. 

However, instead of a foldable screen, the main selling point here is a set of magnetised Pogo pins that allow the ultraslim device to be upgraded via a number of bespoke accessories. The roster on display at Tecno’s booth included stuff like dedicated microphones, camera-like lens attachments, power banks, and kickstands. 

The idea is that you have a bunch of almost Lego-like smartphone features you can snap on or off your device as you want or need them, and it’s very easy to see how it could be expanded over time. Don’t like your camera? Just stick a new one on there. Run out of battery? Tag in a spare. That said, I can’t help but wish that the accessories on offer here were a little more ambitious. A bigger camera lens is neat, but being able to hot-swap in a little bit of SSD storage would be far more practical. There’s only so much you can do with Pogo pins, I guess. 

Look closely, though, and you might spot one of the more fundamental compromises that comes with Tecno’s approach. This particular modular phone doesn’t have a charging port. That’s probably why the form factor is as slim as it is. Now, this is not a real product you can buy, but if it was, you’d be entirely reliant on a proprietary charger, which isn’t ideal with a mainstream manufacturer but is borderline unforgivable for a more niche brand like Tecno. 

Still, in practice, the snappy modular accessories are really cool. I really like that you can stack them on top of one another. I’m a little more dubious of the DSLR-style camera lens attachment, which feels like it pushes the attractive properties of the magnets involved to their breaking point. 

Of course, for as fun as these accessories are to snap onto one another, that quality does hint at the bigger issue here. MagSafe and Qi2 already get you most of the way to this experience. Sure, Tecno’s concept piece might be a little slimmer, but unless the asking price is as lean as the form factor, I don’t know if too many people would be willing to try their luck with it.

Disclosure: WhistleOut Australia's coverage of Mobile World Congress 2026 is supported by OPPO.

Fergus Halliday

Digital Content Editor

Fergus Halliday is a journalist and digital content editor at WhistleOut Australia. He’s written about technology, telecommunications, gaming and more for over a decade. He got his start writing in high school before interning at magazines like CRN Australia and freelancing for publications like the AU Review, Gizmodo, Kotaku, GamesHub, Press Start, ScreenRant, Superjump, Nestegg, and more.

Read full bio