I put Tecno's zero-bezel phone next to an iPhone 17 Pro Max — the difference is wild
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Credit: Sanuj Bhatia / Tom's Guide
Tecno always manages to bring some crazy concepts to trade shows. Last year, we saw the company debut an iPhone Air competitor — even before the iPhone Air became a thing — that too with a huge 5,160 mAh battery inside.
Then at MWC 2026, we saw its modular phone concept . And Tecno isn't holding back at IFA 2026 either, as it has just shown off a new concept phone with practically zero bezel around the display.
Now, for those unfamiliar, the bezel is basically the black border that surrounds the display on your phone. Smartphone makers have been trying to shrink it for years, with the ultimate goal of maximizing the screen-to-body ratio and making the display take up as much of the front as possible.
Credit: Sanuj Bhatia / Tom's Guide
There was slow but steady progress for a while, but bezel innovation has sort of stalled over the past couple of years. And to be fair, I don't think we really needed much more progress. Flagships like the iPhone 17 Pro Max and Galaxy S26 Ultra already have incredibly thin bezels, to the point where they barely bother me anymore.
But Tecno's new concept proves that it's technically possible to go even further and shrink those bezels to (almost) zero.
The company has managed to practically eliminate the black border around the display, as long as you don't mind the actual frame of the phone still being there. Tecno says this is strictly a concept for now, but it could give us an early look at where smartphone displays are heading next.
The concept phone features a 6.78-inch display with a 144 Hz refresh rate, and a screen appears to go all the way to the furthest edges of the device. Of course, the physical frame is still there to hold everything together, but there's virtually no visible black border separating it from the display. If you look closely from certain angles, you can still make out a teeny-tiny border, but you really have to look for it.
Credit: Sanuj Bhatia / Tom's Guide
In isolation, though, I don't think you immediately realize how different it looks. So I put the Tecno concept next to an iPhone 17 Pro Max , and that's where the difference became much easier to see. The iPhone already has incredibly thin bezels at around 1.36 mm, but next to Tecno's concept, even those look slightly noticeable.
Getting the bezel this thin wasn't simple. Tecno says it had to completely redesign the display manufacturing process to achieve it. The company had to invent an inverted screen assembly process, which means the entire display module is now inserted from the back of the phone instead of from the front, as is usually the case.
Apart from the bezel-less display, the rest of the phone isn't quite as exciting, but then again, this is a concept device, so it doesn't really need to be.
Credit: Sanuj Bhatia / Tom's Guide
One thing that did surprise me was the weight, or rather the lack of it. The phone felt incredibly light in the hand, and that's coming from someone who daily-drives an iPhone Air .
What's even more impressive is that Tecno has managed to fit a massive 6,000 mAh battery inside. The concept is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 7300e, which obviously isn't going to win any benchmark competitions, but performance isn't really the point of this device.
The star here is that zero-border display, and Tecno has shown that something like this is actually possible. It's a shame that the phone may never make it beyond the concept stage, because after seeing it in person, I definitely want this kind of display on a phone I can actually buy soon.
