• TCL South Africa is planning to launch the TCL 40 NxtPaper locally in May.
• The smartphone retails for R3 999 and has software and hardware that ensures images that are more comfortable to the eye.
• It will be among many new products that TCL wants to bring to the local market throughout 2024.

Electronics company TCL South Africa revealed on Thursday that one of its latest smartphones, the TCL 40 NxtPaper will see a local launch in 2024. TCL revealed the upcoming smartphone, some of its capabilities and its pricing and availability to Hypertext at an event in Johannesburg this morning.

The device will launch in the crowded affordable lower-to-middle range of smartphones that South Africans enjoy, competing with brands like Xiaomi and TECNO, among others. TCL is hoping that the NxtPaper’s unique nature will help separate it from other smartphones in the category

The NxtPaper’s display is made for eye comfort thanks to hardware that removes harmful blue light while preserving natural colour and without yellowing or the screen becoming orange which is what happens when you activate low-light mode on most smartphones.

It also has software that is made for more comfortable reading. This is the NXTPAPER mode, which turns the screen to look like colour paper texture or ink paper texture. The ink texture is similar to what Amazon Kindle devices used to look like.

There are also several display and colour enhancements thanks to the NXTVISION software from TCL. You can optimise the device for better reading, for more eye comfort, for darker and brighter environments, as well as for gaming, looking at images and video.

TCL is looking to market the phone’s eye-safety features to parents who have children who often use their mobile phones.

TCL 40 NxtPaper specifications

The NxtPaper runs on a MediaTek Helio G88 chipset, with 8GB of RAM, plus 8GB of expandable RAM. It has a battery capacity of 5 010mAh, with a storage capacity of 256GB. It has a Mali-G52 MC2 chip working on graphics.

In terms of camera array, it has a 32MP selfie cam, and a 50MP main snapper accompanied by two other cameras. A 5MP for ultra-wide shots, and a 2MP for macro photography.

It uses TCL’s UI skin, the fifth version, on top of Android 13. The TCL 40 is of a similar size to A-series Galaxy machines from Samsung, and the screen is quite easy on the eyeballs with a granular quality to it making it different to most other smartphone screens.

Pricing and availability

The TCL 40 NxtPaper is launching in South Africa in May 2024, starting at R3 999. The NxtPaper is already out in Spain, Portugal and in TCL’s home country of China.

The company is hoping to bring a bevy of new products to the local market this year, including two other smartphones in the entry-level segment, and a new tablet – the TCL Tab 10L.