MOSCOW—In a country whose best known contribution to global technology may well be the Kalashnikov rifle, a new mobile-phone company once tied to Russia's state-run defense corporation hopes it will have as deep an impact on the world's next generation of smartphones.

Yota Devices is betting on its soon-to-be revealed dual-screen product to break the mold of mobile technology—combining a traditional LCD screen on one side and an electronic-paper display on the other, allowing for seamless information streaming while promising better battery life than the average smartphone.

"We created this to be different," said the company's 43-year-old chief executive, Vladislav Martynov, while demonstrating a prototype at his sleek Moscow office filled with antique telephones. "Most phones nowadays are boring—they are just boxes. This is a phone for people who want to be outside that box."

A team of 35 engineers with a budget of $25 million worked since May to bring the concept into reality, he said.

Yota plans to show the new phone at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February. It is then scheduled to go on sale in Russia by the third quarter of next year before appearing in international markets the following quarter in cooperation with global carriers.

