Who wants an Android-powered music player with an e-ink screen?

Smartphones have largely replaced standalone music players, as you can get a cheap phone for under $100 and use it as a music player. But Hisense thinks there’s still a market for standalone music players, and its new Hisense Touch might make you do a double-take.

The Hisense Touch is now available for pre-sale in China (h/t: Liliputing), and the music player also packs a 5.84-inch e-ink screen for longer battery life and a more comfortable reading experience. The screen also offers 2,048 levels of brightness and 36 levels of color temperature.

On the audio side of things, you can expect dual stereo speakers, Dirac Power Sound support, an ES9038 DAC, and an ES9603 amp chip. Of course, the music player also features a 3.5mm port.

The Hisense Touch reportedly offers an unnamed 1.8GHz octa-core Snapdragon processor (believed to be an 11nm design), 4GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, a 3,000mAh battery with 18W charging via USB-C, and Android 11. As the image at the top of the page shows, the music player lacks a rear camera setup, with the top bezel hosting an unnamed selfie camera.

Expect to pay 1,599 yuan (~$249) for the music player, which makes it more expensive than some decent budget phones like the Redmi Note 10 and the POCO M3. Then again, it might be an apples and oranges comparison at this point given the Hisense device’s music focus, e-ink display, and lack of cellular capabilities.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Hisense dabble with e-ink screens either, as the firm has a long history of offering devices with e-ink panels. Prominent examples include the Hisense A2 (featuring a standard screen on the front and an e-ink display on the back) and the Hisense A7 (featuring a 6.7-inch e-ink panel up-front). Hisense doesn’t tend to offer these devices outside China, so don’t hold your breath for the Touch to launch in your neck of the woods.