Meet the Cyrcle phone – a ROUND smartphone with two headphone jacks designed to encourage “real-world connections”

CES is home to the weird and the wonderful in consumer tech and one of the more bizarre gadgets on show at this year’s event is the Cyrcle phone. 

As the name suggests, the Cyrcle ditches the traditional rectangular shape of smartphones in favour of a circular one that, its designers claim, make it easier and more “sensual” to hold and easier to place in a pocket without it protruding.

 Other features include two headphone jacks – at a time when many flagship models don’t have a headphone jack at all – so people can listen to music on a single device together, a 13MP front-facing camera, and dual-SIM ports for “work and play.” The Cyrcle runs on Android 9.0 (Android Pie) and supports 4G LTE. 

As its website explains: “The new Cyrcle Phone is designed to encourage real-life connections through technology. A non-rectangular phone for non-rectangular people, The Cyrcle Phone exists to inspire a world where you can be you — whatever shape you are.”

The Cyrcle phone isn’t actually new per se – it’s been doing the rounds since 2015 – and the device on show at CES 2020 is still a prototype. In a short interview with the BBC, the company explained that a full consumer release is delayed by the fact that the team hasn’t yet managed to make apps that fit the circular screen.

Instead, the apps currently being used all open in a rectangle format, meaning that some features are cut off. 

As a result, the firm is yet to announce how much the phone will cost nor when it will be released but you can sign up for updates on the website. We’re also not entirely convinced it’s not a wind up, but we shall see.