TCL’s first smartphones with NXTPAPER displays are now available in the US (with limited carrier availability)

TCL’s NXTPAPER technology offers a glare-free viewing experience that the company says is more paper-like than the glossy screens that you find on most modern smartphones and tablets. Up until now the displays have mostly been used in tablets, but now the first two TCL smartphones with NXTPAPER displays are available in the United States. Sort of.

After unveiling several new smartphones with NXTPAPER displays earlier this year, the TCL 50 XL NXTPAPER 5G and TCL 50 XE NXTPAPER 5G budget phones are now available for purchase in the US. But you can only buy them from wireless carriers… and not the carriers you may be expecting.

You can pick up a TCL 50 XE NXTPAPER 5G phone from Spectrum Mobile for $150, while the TCL XL NXTPAPER 5G is available from C Spire for $200.

Spectrum Mobile is a mobile virtual operator that relies on a mix of Verizon’s 4G and 5G network and Charter’s WiFi hotspot networks. It’s theoretically available nationwide, but when I entered my address in Philadelphia there was no option for service at my location, even though Philadelphia should have coverage according to Spectrum Mobile’s map.

Anyway, that means I cannot buy the TCL 50 XE NXTPAPER 5G, since it’s not sold as a carrier unlocked device.

I could theoretically buy the TCL 50 XL NXTPAPER 5G from C-Spire, which allows me to add it to my cart. But, again, I’d have to sign up for a C Spire service contract, because the phone’s not available unlocked.

Still, maybe this is a first step toward making phones with glare-free displays available in the North American market and if they sell well in this limited context maybe we’ll see more purchase options in the future.