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The dual-screen Nubia X solves the notch problem with extreme over-engineering

The dual-screen Nubia X solves the notch problem with extreme over-engineering

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A second color display on the back lets you take selfies with the main camera

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As if October wasn’t already packed full of new product announcements, China’s Nubia is today hosting a launch event for its new flagship called the Nubia X. Leaked ahead of the big unveil, this device takes a pretty extreme approach to solving the notch problem: it puts a second display on the back, removing the entire need for a front-facing camera. We’re not talking e-paper displays like you had on the YotaPhone, this is a full-sized color screen, albeit with some fat bezels around it. So you can simply flip the phone around to its back to take your selfie with the main camera.

The most impressive thing about the Nubia X’s second display is the way it totally disappears when switched off. You can see a good demonstration of how that screen blends into the colorful glass back of the phone in the video below.

Specs listed on China’s TENAA have already given us some indication of what to expect from the Nubia X. The main display is a 6.26-inch LCD with a resolution of 2,280 x 1,080, while the rear panel is an OLED screen with a resolution of 1,520 x 720. The battery powering this screen sandwich is rated at 3,800mAh, there’ll be a choice of 6GB or 8GB of RAM, and the ever-present Snapdragon 845 will be at the heart of the whole thing. Alas, the software Nubia intends to ship with the X is based on the older Android 8.1 Oreo instead of the freshest Android 9 Pie.

While it’s being unveiled in China today, there don’t yet seem to be any plans for the Nubia X in the global market. So we can just look at it from afar and debate exactly how useful (or necessary) that second screen is.