Budget phones with rear displays are becoming an Honor thing now. The company just launched the Honor Play20C, and if it looks familiar, that’s because it essentially is the Honor X5d S we covered recently, just dressed up for global markets. Same hardware, different name, and a couple of small tweaks.
The most notable tweak is the chipset. The 4GB RAM and 128GB storage variant runs on a Unisoc T615, while the other storage configurations stick with the Unisoc T610 from the X5d S. It’s a small change, not a meaningful performance jump, but worth knowing if you’re comparison shopping. The other difference is color. The Play20C comes in Forest Green and Midnight Black, and adds Sunrise Gold, which the X5d S never offered.
Beyond that, the two phones are identical. You get a 6.78-inch IPS LCD with HD+ resolution and a 90Hz refresh rate on the front. The back is where things get interesting. A 2-inch touchscreen sits alongside the 50MP main camera. That small screen lets you frame selfies using the rear camera, which almost always produces better shots than a front-facing sensor at this price. It also handles notifications and media controls, so it has some practical use beyond the novelty factor.
The battery is a 6,000mAh cell, which sounds great until you see the 15W charging speed. At that rate, filling up a battery this large is going to take a while. That’s a real compromise for a phone launching in 2026, and Honor should know better by now.
Still, the rear display is the story here. This is the second budget Honor phone in just a few weeks to ship with one. The Play 20A got a secondary screen back in August, and the Play20C confirms this is now a deliberate strategy. Xiaomi made rear displays a premium feature. Honor is going the other direction, pushing the idea down into its entry-level lineup where most people actually buy phones. That’s a genuinely interesting move in a segment that usually just competes on battery size and camera megapixels.
Here’s what you’re getting with the Honor Play20C:
- 6.78-inch IPS LCD, HD+ resolution, 90Hz refresh rate
- 2-inch rear touchscreen for selfies and quick info
- 50MP main rear camera
- Unisoc T615 (4GB model) or Unisoc T610 (other variants)
- 6,000mAh battery with 15W wired charging
- Color options: Forest Green, Midnight Black, Sunrise Gold
Honor has confirmed availability in Nigeria so far, and given that the X5d S is already on sale in South Africa, more African markets are likely next. Pricing details and a broader rollout timeline haven’t been confirmed yet. For budget buyers in those regions, the rear display is a genuinely useful feature at a price point where most competitors offer nothing close to it. It’s not a powerhouse phone, but it doesn’t need to be.