Where have all the small phones gone? From the best cheap phones all the way up to the best Android phones and best iPhones, it’s extremely difficult to find a handset with a screen smaller than six inches.
In fact, it’s been years since we’ve seen a small phone launched by a mainstream brand. The last notable release was the ASUS Zenfone 10 back in 2023, but with the Zenfone line switching to larger displays in 2024 and ASUS stepping back from phone releases in 2026, it seems that small phone fans will be left looking elsewhere this year.
However, at this year’s CES, one small phone maker stepped out with a design for a new kind of phone altogether – a concept that keeps things compact while taking hints from the best small-screen experiences of the modern day.
I’m talking about the MindOne Pro by Ikko, a Hong Kong-based tech company that, until now, has specialized in making earbuds and earphones.
The MindOne Pro is a “card-sized phone” with a 4-inch almost-square display, a 50MP camera on a flip-up hinge for selfies, and a host of AI tools that can connect to the internet for free in 60 regions, including the US, UK, and Australia.
All of that sounds pretty neat, but really it’s that small display that’s caught my eye. As someone who dearly misses his iPhone 5S, another 4-inch phone, it’s cool to see at least one company returning to a truly portable mobile form factor.
However, the MindOne Pro isn’t exactly like the funsize candy bar phones of old – as mentioned, its display is near-enough square, which makes it look more like a Galaxy Z Flip 7 or Motorola Razr (just, you know, without the ‘flip’). The phone measures 86mm x 72mm and 8.9mm thick, not including the flip-up camera module.
That’ll be music to the ears of anyone who loves using flip phones for their cover display. I personally find myself using the cover screen on flip phones for quick Google searches and even to play video podcasts while I’m doing other things; it can be really useful to have a compact and unobtrusive option when you need to check something but don’t want to get lost in a huge display.
Indeed, here at TechRadar we think flip phone cover displays are so important that we maintain an entry for the best cover display in our list of the best folding phones. The MindOne Pro seems like it could offer a similar experience for people who don’t really care about the ‘folding’ part of the equation.
I can see the Ikko MindOne Pro landing really well folks like me who just miss small phones but want something more powerful than, say, the Light Phone or ‘dumbphones’ like it. The MindOne runs Android 15, as well as its own Ikko AI OS companion software, so it can run a full suite of essential daily apps (though there’s no saying how well-optimised apps might be for its unusual screen).
We covered the MindOne project last year over on TechRadar Pro, but its appearance at CES gives us a much better look at the handset (via Android Authority) and suggests that Ikko is getting serious about bringing the phone to market.
That’ll be reassuring for long-time followers of the MindOne, because although the Ikko MindOne’s Kickstarter campaign wrapped up in August 2025, the phone is yet to ship, with the company’s own estimates suggesting a February 2026 release date.
The campaign page suggests a non-Pro model, with standard tempered glass rather than sapphire glass and no free internet access for those AI tools, will follow the MindOne Pro, though we don’t know when.
As a matter of principle, I won’t usually recommend spending money on a product that isn’t yet available. So as cool as the MindOne Pro is, I’d suggest waiting for it to become available before parting with your hard-earned cash. At an MSRP of $499 / £379 / AU$759, not including any early-bird discounts, the MindOne Pro is fairly affordable, but it’s still a lot of money to leave hanging.
That Kickstarter campaign was extremely successful, raising a total of HK$11.5m, which works out to about $1.4m US dollars at the time of writing. It’s also worth noting that Ikko has successfully crowdfunded at least one past product, its ActiveBuds earphones.
Personally, I’d hope that this successful crowdfunding raises a few eyebrows at the R&D departments of larger phone makers. I can’t see Apple making a compact phone like the MindOne Pro, but I’d love to see Samsung put out a similar device based on the Galaxy Z Flip 7.
In reality I think it’s more likely that one of the experimental brands operating out of China would take on this new form factor; Xiaomi comes to mind thanks to its track record of experimentation and emulation (check out the Xiaomi 17 Pro Max to see what I’m talking about).
Anyway, that’s well within the realm of speculation. Still, it’s always fun to see quirky and unique phones coming to life; last year marked a nadir for boring phone design, so I genuinely hope the intriguing MindOne Pro makes it from its CES booth to customer doorsteps soon.
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