Secondary screens on the back of phones have mostly been a party trick. Flashy in demos, forgettable in real life. But Honor might actually be onto something worth watching here. According to Huawei Central, Weibo leaker @DigitalChatStation claims that Honor is currently testing a slim camera phone with a 1.7-inch rear display, and all signs point to it being part of the upcoming Honor 700 series.
To put that in context, Honor recently launched a new Digital series that introduced a magnetic rear display as one of its headline features. That was already a bold move. Now it seems the company isn’t stopping there. If the 1.7-inch spec is accurate, this would be a bigger back screen than what we saw on that series, suggesting Honor is actively iterating on the concept rather than just slapping it on as a one-time gimmick.
And that matters. The secondary screen trend has been tried before with mixed results. Remember the Meizu Pro 7? Cool idea, went nowhere. What’s different now is that Honor appears to be building a product line around it, which means software support, real use cases, and actual refinement over time. That’s how features go from novelty to useful.
For the Honor 700 specifically, a rear screen at this size could work well for camera previews, quick notifications, or letting someone frame their own selfie using the main sensors. Those are real reasons to have it there. Whether Honor executes on those use cases is another question entirely, but the hardware ambition is clear.
It’s also worth thinking about where this fits in the market. Mid-range phones are getting seriously competitive right now. Brands need a hook, something that makes a buyer pick their device over a nearly identical spec sheet from a rival. A well-implemented rear display could be exactly that hook for the right person.
Nothing is confirmed yet, so treat this as a strong rumor rather than fact. But if Honor pulls this off cleanly, the 700 series could be one of the more interesting mid-range releases of the year.