The foldable phone revolution is off to a rocky start, with Samsung's Galaxy Fold falling flat and Motorola's Razr getting 2.5-star reviews. The jury is still out on the promising Galaxy Z Flip, but not everyone wants or needs a flip phone.

But what if you could get the benefits of the Galaxy Fold in something that doesn't fold at all? That's the idea behind the concept phone TCL is working on. It's a slider phone on steroids. [According to CNET, which first reported on the concept, TCL's concept uses a continuous display. Instead of expanding the screen to reveal a larger canvas, the display is pulled out from the top or bottom of the phone.

According to these images, the screen appears to slide from the left and extend to the right.

TCL reportedly planned to unveil this design at MWC 2020 before MWC was canceled due to fears of the coronavirus.

So where does the extended display go when the entire slider phone is closed? It is conceivable that this part could fold or go behind other parts of the phone, but how would it work and would it fold like a true foldable phone?

On the back of the phone is a vertical camera bar with four lenses and a flash, but it is unclear at this time what the specifications are. On the front of the phone there is a cutout for some sort of dual camera.

TCL is no stranger to cell phone concepts. At CES 2020, the company unveiled the TCL foldable phone that opens to a 7.2-inch AMOLED display. And in October 2019, TCL unveiled a triple-foldable smartphone.

Frankly, I like the idea of a slider that looks like a full-size phone when closed while hiding an expandable display, rather than peering into the Z Flip's outer 1-inch OLED panel or the Razr's 2.7-inch QuickView display Nice.

I just wonder if TCL can pull this design off and how heavy and thick the whole package will be to achieve such versatility. I also wonder how large a battery can be installed given all the moving parts.