This phone is a chameleon with a bizarre back panel

Is there anything more frustrating than falling in love with a phone, only to realise that the selection of colours it comes in is mediocre at best? That could be a thing of the past, if new technology from Tecno becomes the norm.

The brand has unveiled a concept Android phone which features a colour-changing rear panel. It works by analysing colours seen by the rear camera, and matching that to the back panel.

In theory, that makes this a bit of a chameleon – anything your phone sees can have its colour picked and used to dress up the handset. It's a seriously cool innovation, and one which would allow you to switch up the look of your handset on the fly – perfect for fashion-conscious folk who want to match their phone with their outfit.

What's perhaps even more impressive is the technology it's using to make it happen. The device employs an e-ink panel on the rear, which is similar to the tech you'd find in an Amazon Kindle Scribe Coloursoft, for example.

There's no word on exactly what kind of panel is in use, but one report on GoodEReader suggests that it could be an E Ink Prism 3. That technology is able to display seven colours – black, white, red, yellow, orange, blue and green – and can be combined with different patterns. It's the same technology used in the colour-changing BMW from a few years ago.

If that is what's under the hood here, the possibilities could be much greater than just single colours. These panels can offer shapes and even movement, which could make personalisation a lot more interesting. It also doesn't use any battery when static, meaning you'll only see a drain when you decide to switch things up.

Of course, there's one snag right now – it's a concept. Will it ever see the light of day on a commercial handset? I'm not sure, but it would certainly streamline one part of the manufacturing process.