At Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2026, I had the pleasure of getting hands-on time with a number of concept devices scattered across the show floor. One gadget in particular that caught my eye is a new modular smartphone prototype from Tecno, showcased in both an Atom Edition (silver with red accents) and a Moda Edition (dark gray with gold accents).
Both the Atom and the Moda are fully modular Android handset prototypes, utilizing a mix of magnets, pogo pins, and Wi-Fi Direct to facilitate interoperability with a variety of external modules. The main phone units themselves are remarkably svelte, measuring in at a mere 0.20 inches (4.99 mm) thin. This is thinner than any other modular-style phone we’ve seen in the past, and it’s also thinner than Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Edge and Apple’s iPhone Air.
As one would expect, the base Atom and the Moda are relatively anemic when it comes to specifications, owing to the physical constraints of the form factor. In a vacuum, the 3,000mAh internal battery capacity and the single rear camera sensor are underwhelming inclusions, but that’s where Tecno’s Modular Magnetic Interconnection Technology comes into play.
At its display booth, Tecno showcased a variety of supplementary Modular Magnetic Interconnection Technology modules, including slim 3,000mAh battery banks, an action camera, a 3x telephoto optical zoom camera, a speaker, a wallet, a Bluetooth extender, and even a full-blown mirrorless camera module, complete with a camera grip, a focus ring, and a detachable 23 mm lens.
Uniquely, these modules are all capable of stacking on top of one another as if they were Lego blocks. For example, you can stack multiple battery banks on top of one another to enhance stamina, while also adding a telephoto lens to the top of the stack. Pogo pins and magnetic adherence make for a fully plug-and-play user experience, and everything appears to connect and activate near instantaneously.
Some techno-futurism from Tecno
The Atom and the Moda are what you get when you cross a Moto Z with Lego
Now, I know what you’re thinking — modular phones have been done before, both in concept form and on a mass-production scale. Google’s now-cancelled Project Ara brought the concept of mobile modularity to the forefront back in 2013, and both Motorola and LG have experimented with the idea in the form of the Moto Z and the LG G5, respectively.
However, what Motorola’s ‘Moto Mods’ and LG’s ‘Friends’ lacked was Lego-like stackability, a rich assortment of modules to choose from, and a magnetically-oriented consumer market primed by the likes of MagSafe, Pixelsnap, and Qi2 with its Magnetic Power Profile (MPP).
With this in mind, Tecno’s attempt at reinvigorating the conversation surrounding modular handsets is a slam dunk. The idea of carrying around only as much smartphone as you need at any given time is a genuinely attractive proposition in today’s world of massive phones with protruding camera humps, and it adds much-needed expandability to the burgeoning class of super-slim smartphones on the market (that admittedly haven’t taken the world by storm).
Of course, by virtue of being concept devices, there’s no telling if or when Tecno might launch the Atom and the Moda (or the associated Modular Magnetic Interconnection Technology ecosystem) to the public in a consumer-facing fashion. It’s also unclear just how much such a product offering would cost in the real world, or whether it’d even be a viable product to bring to market in the first place. Proprietary peripheral ecosystems have historically struggled to take off, and companies tend to drag their feet even when it comes to adopting open standards like Qi2.
Personally, I’d love to see a full-blown production model hit store shelves, even if it ultimately proves to be a niche offering. The smartphone industry is far too stagnant these days, and I don’t feel that previous attempts at a modular phone have stuck around long enough to mature and develop over the course of several generations. If nothing else, I’m just glad to see Tecno continue to push forward in its quest to showcase ever-more unique concept gadgets at tradeshows like MWC.
