Here is the affordable TCL foldable phone that could have been

For more than two years, TCL has been showing journalists prototypes of foldable phones. One had a 10-inch screen that folded in three. Another featured a screen that wrapped around the wrist. Yet another had a large screen that closed like a book, one featured a screen that you pull out to expand into a tablet, and a more futuristic model featured foldable and rollable screens in the same device.

And then there was a clamshell model that looked a lot like Samsung Galaxy Z Flip and Motorola Razr. This device, named Chicago Project, is the one that TCL plans to launch at the start of the fourth quarter. It aimed to sell the phone for less than Samsung’s $ 1,000-plus foldables and Motorola’s $ 1,400 Razr. The Chinese giant was almost done folding – and this week even shipped one of the near-completed prototypes to CNET to prove it was real – but ultimately decided to scrap it and start over.

Now TCL won’t be launching its first foldable for at least 12 to 18 months, Stefan Streit, TCL’s chief marketing officer, said in an interview ahead of Friday’s announcement. And when he presents the device, it will not be Chicago but a revamped product. For now, hopes of a lower-cost foldable device will have to wait.

“We could finish this product and bring it to market, but it sort of seemed… not right,” Streit said. “For us, this category is really, really important. We will bring in products. We will bring in a number of products.” It’s just not the first device TCL thought it would launch.

While TCL has been selling phones under the low-cost Alcatel brand for years – and for a brief period under the BlackBerry name – it has only been selling devices under its own TCL brand since early 2020. It has been a major player in the industry. television, but TCL lacks the recognition needed in mobile to attract people to try a new product category like foldables. Even Samsung, the world’s largest phone maker, is still in its infancy convincing consumers that foldables are durable enough to withstand normal daily use.

TCL decided to cancel the introduction of its first foldable due to several “business” factors – brand weakness, expensive components due to the pandemic, and lack of carrier support, Streit said.

Perhaps most importantly, TCL’s move is a recognition that foldables may not be ready for mainstream users – at least not in high volumes and at low cost.

Folders remain a tiny part of the overall smartphone market. This year, vendors are expected to sell around 7 million such devices, according to Strategy Analytics, while companies will sell 1.35 billion regular smartphones. This estimate from last month included potential TCL sales.

It wasn’t until Apple introduced its first foldable devices, perhaps in the second half of 2023, that the devices started selling in greater numbers, Strategy Analytics analyst Ken Hyers said in August. His company expects around 15 million foldables to be sold worldwide in 2023 and more than double that amount the following year. By 2026, the number of foldables sold worldwide is expected to reach nearly 170 million, according to Strategy Analytics.

TCL aimed to launch a full foldable by the end of 2021 that cost less than Samsung’s devices, but the lowest price it could achieve with its first device was $ 800, Streit said. Samsung’s new Z Flip 3 starts at $ 1,000, while its Z Fold 3 costs $ 1,800.

“If someone can spend $ 800, they can also spend $ 1,000,” Streit said. “He will probably go for the brand that he has known for many years and that he trusts more.”

Compete with the Z Flip 3

At the same time, some of the Chicago specs aren’t as high-end as the Z Flip 3. Both devices look alike, but TCL’s foldable is a bit thicker, a bit wider, and a bit heavier. . And the front screen is smaller at 1.1 inches diagonally compared to 1.9 inches for the Z Flip 3. The interior screens are roughly the same size: 6.67 inches diagonally for TCL and 6.7 inch for Samsung.

Chicago isn’t water resistant like the Z Flip 3, and it’s probably not as sturdy, Streit said. It uses Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 765G processor, which is not as fast or as powerful as the Snapdragon 888 from the Z Flip 3. Chicago also has a slower version of 5G and cannot be used on the ultra-wide network. verizon strip. Its fastest download speed is 2.7 Gbps against the 7.5 Gbps peak of the Snapdragon 888.

Chicago was reportedly available in one color, “Pastel Gold,” which looks like a peach-colored matte plastic body with gold-tone metal detailing on the sides and hinge edges. When displayed next to Samsung’s cream-colored Z Flip 3, it can sometimes be difficult to tell the devices apart.

One area where Chicago could have had an advantage over the Z Flip 3 is the part of the interior display where it folds in half. The crease in the prototype sent to CNET is less pronounced – both visually and to the touch of the screen – than on the Z Flip 3. CNET’s Patrick Holland, who reviewed Samsung’s foldables, said he didn’t mind the Z Flip 3’s crease, although it was noticeable when interacting with the middle of the screen.

TCL decided to cancel Chicago ahead of Samsung’s August Unpacked event, Streit said. But seeing the Z Flip 3 cemented its decision, even though Chicago was over, save for a few changes to features like software and the hinge.

“I use it everyday,” Streit said of Chicago. “Nothing has changed” on TCL’s confidence in foldables, he said, but market conditions need to improve before launching a consumer device. For now, TCL has already started work on the foldable it hopes to sell.

This device, while similar to Chicago, will be thinner and more rugged, Streit said, but it’s still likely to be a high-tech flip-flop phone.

“This is… the most natural step we’ve come from,” he said.

The hope is that by the end of 2022 or early 2023 the market will be ready for a lower cost foldable, Streit said. Component prices will likely be back to normal, TCL’s brand will be stronger, 5G will be widely deployed so that operators can support other phones, consumers will be looking for new types of devices, and prices will be well enough low for wide adoption, he said.

“We think this… is the best time for TCL to launch something next that… hopefully takes it to more mass market segments,” Streit said.

For anyone curious about what could have been, here are the top specs:

Dimensions and weight

• Unfolded: 164.8mm x 78.1mm x 7.35mm
• Folded: 86.5mm x 78.1mm x 17.9mm
• Weight: 204.5 grams

Indoor display

• 6.67 inch AMOLED, DOTCH display
• Resolution: FHD + (1080 x 2400)
• Screen-to-body ratio: 84.6%
• Aspect Ratio: 20: 9
• Pixel density: 395 PPI, 16.7 million colors
• Brightness: 700 nits (peak), 420 nits (normal)

Front display

Memory

• 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of flash memory

Battery and charge

• Battery capacity: 3,545 mAh
• Wired Charging Speed: Up to 18W Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0
• Wireless charging speed: up to 10W wireless charging Connections: Type-C
• USB-C 3.1

Rear camera

• 48-megapixel main camera with optical image stabilization, Sony IMX582 sensor, pixel size 0.8 µm
• 16MP ultra wide-angle camera
• Video capture: 4K at 30 frames per second, 720p and 1080p at 30/60 frames per second
• Video playback: 4K at 30 frames per second, 720p and 1080p at 30/60 frames per second

Front camera

• 44 megapixel front camera
• Video capture: 4K at 60 frames per second, 720p and 1080p at 30/60 frames per second