TCL unveils a premium 5G phone priced under $500 at CES and teases novel folding display with THREE separate hinges
- TCL dove head first into mobile phones, unveiling three new devices
- The flagship TCL 10 5G will be one of the first 5G phones under $500
- A new foldable phone can bend its OLED display in three places
- The folding device has yet to be named or slated for release
TCL will plow forward with plans to popularize its own company-branded smart phones, including a novel folding phone with three separate hinges.
The Chinese company, which is mostly known for selling capable TVs, announced its intentions at the Consumer Electronics Show on Monday, detailing a new line of phones called the TCL 10 Pro, TCL 10L, and TCL 10 5G.
While the company has long manufactured devices for other companies, including Blackberry, this will be among the first phones released under its own name.
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TCL has announced one of the first premium 5G smartphones available for the non-premium price of $499
It’s high-end 5G device, the TCl 10 5G, will cost less than $500 – a price that drew several ‘wows’ from the audience – among the first 5G phones to be sold in that range.
TCL says It will boast an in-screen fingerprint reader and a 3.5 mm headphone jack.
All three of the phones will be released in February starting in Barcelona, Spain and will use customized version of the Android operating system.
The phones will all have a rear-mounted camera array that with four sensors aligned in a horizontal formation.
Displays on each of its new devices will use TCL-made displays and employ NXTVISION visual technology – a proprietary display optimization and camera technology, that ‘enriches color, clarity and contrast enhancement in real-time.’
Other than its 5G phone costing less than $500, TCL didn’t elaborate on the eventual pricing.
The audience at TCL’s CES 2020 presentation was wowed by the company’s announcement of a sub-$500 price for a premium 5G phone
All of TCL’s newly announced phones will use the company’s NXTVISION visual technology – a proprietary display optimization and camera technology, that ‘enriches color, clarity and contrast enhancement in real-time’
Perhaps the flashiest member of all of its new mobile devices, however, will be the company’s nascent folding phone, which has yet to receive an official name.
The phone, a prototype of which was unveiled in October, has three hinges and is capable of various configurations and sizes. When collapsed the phone folds onto itself to configure the device into a book-like shape.
While the device didn’t get a lot of airtime during TCL’s media conference on Monday, the company said it will turn to its expertise in display technology to enable its folding capabilities.
The unnamed folding device will reportedly not have a screen on the outside and is still very much in prototype phase.
It’s unclear when, if ever, it will join the ranks of other folding phones like the Samsung Galaxy Fold or Huawei’s Mate X.
Earlier this year, the company was also rumored to have at least five folding devices in the works, including two tablets, two smartphones, and a type of wearable that swivels around one’s wrist.
TCL promised a new folding phone that will be bend into three different, unique configurations
TCL didn’t mention when or if those devices would be released.
For the Chinese company, a new line of company-branded smart phones will mark a major step forward and its first real foray into the mobile market.
The company is clearly looking to fill in gaps in the market for phones that boast premium features without a premium price tag.
TCL will contend with other purveyors like Google, which allegedly plans to release a budget version of its flagship Pixel phone, and Apple which is expected to release multiple versions of its iPhone SE 2 – expected to cost around $399 – next year.
