A Smartphone Designed Around How You Actually Use Its Screen
The Hisense A10 phone is a dual screen smartphone that pairs a 6.13-inch e-ink smartphone display on the front with a detachable magnetic phone screen on the back, letting users swap between paper-like reading and full-color multimedia instead of forcing one overloaded display to do everything at once. This is the key idea: the A10 is not chasing folding gimmicks or edge-to-edge glass, but rethinking the daily experience of staring at a phone. Hisense has officially started teasing this detachable phone screen concept in China, positioning the A10 as an upcoming E Ink Android device with two screens, one of which can be removed when you do not need it. That single design decision changes the relationship between your eyes, your attention, and your apps far more than yet another 120Hz OLED ever could.
Solving the Reading vs. Multimedia Dilemma
Every modern phone quietly forces a trade-off: bright color panels are great for photos, video, and app-heavy tasks but strain eyes and burn power during long reading sessions. E Ink reverses that, giving you sharp, paper-like text that stays readable in bright sunlight while using far less battery. Hisense built the A10 to remove this forced compromise by making each strength its own screen: the front E Ink display is tuned for e-books, notes, and studying, reducing eye fatigue over hours of use and working well indoors and outdoors thanks to a front light. When you want images, charts, maps, social feeds, or streaming, you snap on the detachable color LCD panel at the rear and get all the visual punch of a conventional phone without sacrificing the calm reading experience.
Why a Magnetic Detachable Screen Matters
Dual screen phones with E Ink have existed, but they were permanently thick and heavy, even when you only wanted to read. Hisense’s twist is to turn the color screen into a choice. The A10 uses a magnetically detachable color LCD panel, roughly 5 inches in size, that clamps onto the back when needed and comes off the moment you prefer a lightweight, book-like device. From what has been shown so far, the magnetic phone screen locks into place under the camera with physical connectors for power and data, behaving like an integrated part of the phone rather than a clumsy accessory. According to one source, "It makes color capabilities a choice rather than a must". That sentence captures why this matters: the A10 finally lets you carry one phone that feels like a reader when you want focus, and a full-featured media device when you want distraction.
Hardware and Software: This Is No Gimmick
For detachable screens to be taken seriously, the phone underneath has to be competent. On the hardware side, reports describe the Hisense A10 as running a 4nm octa-core Qualcomm chipset with Android 16, 5G, and Wi‑Fi 6, putting it squarely in modern smartphone territory rather than e-reader fringe. Another detailed look says it is powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 8300 with either 12GB/256GB or 16GB/512GB configurations, again with Android 16 pre-installed for fast navigation and broad app support. It is expected to launch around CNY 3,999, roughly USD 590 (approx. RM2,730), with the detachable LCD likely sold together or separately depending on configuration. Crucially, you can reportedly buy the main E Ink device without the color panel at all, reinforcing that this magnetic add-on is a practical upgrade, not an obligatory upsell.
What Hisense’s A10 Signals About the Future of Phone Design
Hisense has been building toward this concept for years, starting with earlier E Ink-driven models such as the A9 that treated phones as reading-first devices rather than glass entertainment slabs. The A10 feels like the logical next step: instead of pretending one display can be ideal for both novels and Netflix, it accepts that screens are specialized tools and lets users physically swap between them as their activity changes. This addresses the core design conflict where single displays must compromise between readability and multimedia capability. The immediate future is still uncertain—details like battery life, camera quality, and wider availability remain vague, and one source warns the device will likely need to be imported if it catches your eye. But the bigger lesson is clear: once color becomes a magnetic module rather than a constant demand, the phone in your pocket can finally respect your attention, not just chase it.
