Last year, TCL started to bend its industrial strength when it launched its first line of TCL phones, and now, for CES 2021, the new TCL 20 5G aims to push the price of 5G phones way down.
For 2021, the TCL 20 series will consist of two phones (at least to start with): the TCL 20 5G, which is expected to go on sale for less than 300 euros, and the even cheaper TCL 20 SE for only 150 euros.
With its 10 and now 20 series phones, TCL is looking for combine the expertise and resources it has developed in making TVs, and phones sold under other brands such as Alcatel, Blackberry and Palm, to make affordable devices that have some more features typically reserved for more expensive premium handsets. In a way, TCL is a bit busy with Samsung’s playbook, which is able to leverage its massive tech empire to bring in parts like displays, memory, storage and even processors from the inside out.
Priced at $ 300 (about $ 365 instantly converted), the TCL 20 5G is even cheaper than Motorola’s newly announced Moto One 5G Ace while offering similar specs including a 6.67-inch FHD + LCD display, Snapdragon 69o 5G chip, 6 GB RAM, 128 GB or 256 GB storage, microSD card slot and a 4,500 mAh battery.
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All around, the TCL 20 5G also comes with three rear cameras, including a 48 MP main camera, an 8 MP ultra-wide camera and a 2 MP macro camera. TCL says the 20 series cams come with AI tuning to help users take better photos, while TCL, like Samsung, uses its knowledge of TVs to add support for HDR 10 video and a built-in function for converting SDR to HDR to help. the quality of whatever you watch.
The main drawback of the TCL 20 5G is that while it is quite affordable, like the Moto One 5G Ace, the TCL 20 5G only supports sub-6 GHz 5G, but not mmWave 5G. That means that if the TCL 20 5G makes its way to the United States, it will have limited 5G functionality, especially on carriers such as Verizon.
As for the TCL 20 SE, TCL has made a pretty decent budget phone for just $ 150, with components such as a large 6.82-inch touchscreen, rear fingerprint reader, Snapdragon 460 chip, 4 GB RAM, 64 GB or 128 GB storage, microSD card reader and an even bigger 5000 mAh battery. And on the back, you actually get four lugs instead of three, with the 20 SE getting a 48MP main camera, 5MP ultra-wide camera, 2MP macro camera, and a 2MP depth camera.
Although the TCL 20 SE is quite basic and does not support 5G, it does have two notable special features, namely a Smart Floating window which is basically a picture-in-picture feature that allows you to browse the web or in a small text can respond to texts. window while watching videos and the ability to use the TCL 20 SE’s large 5000 mAh battery to charge other nearby devices with a USB-C cable.
The big tease, however, is that TCL’s first two 20-series phones may be just one example, as TCL says it plans to unveil at least three new phones sometime “in the coming weeks”.
The TCL 20 SE is expected to go on sale this month for $ 150, while the TCL 20 5G is expected to be available sometime next month.