At CES earlier this year, TCL unveiled three affordable phones for the European and Asian markets, the TCL 40 SE, 408 and 403. All three are 4G-only models with a focus on keeping costs low. Now at MWC, the company is announcing more of his 40 series phones. Some of them are his 5G ready and all are affordable under $200. New additions include TCL’s cheapest 5G phone yet ($170).
TCL40×5G
This isn’t it, at $200 the TCL 40 X 5G costs slightly more but also offers better camera hardware.There’s one decent camera on the back with a 50MP sensor , the other two modules are 2MP helpers.
On the front of the phone is a 6.56-inch display in HD+ resolution (20:9) with a 90Hz refresh rate and a 180Hz touch sampling rate. An 8MP front-facing camera can do facial recognition, and a side-mounted fingerprint reader offers a secure unlocking alternative.
The 40X is powered by the Dimensity 700 chipset. His 7nm chip this late 2020 is no surprise, but it was also used in the more expensive ($220) TCL 40R. Here, it’s paired with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage (expandable up to 1TB via a microSD slot). More importantly, 5G modems promise downlink speeds of up to 2.77Gbps and support new VoNR-type voice calls. The smartphone has a 5,000mAh battery.
The TCL 40 X 5G is the most expensive phone the company has announced today, but as we said, this means a starting price of $200.
TCL40XE 5G
The TCL 40 XE 5G is similar to the X, but things change. The price has been slashed to $170, making it TCL’s cheapest 5G phone to date. It still uses the same Dimensity 700 as the X and has the same 4/64GB memory configuration (complete with microSD slot).
So where did that savings come from? The main camera on the back only has a 13MP sensor (leaving a pair of 2MP helpers). However, the selfie camera is unchanged with his 8MP sensor. Security is handled by either face unlock or a side-mounted fingerprint reader.
The XE has the same 6.56-inch HD+ display with a refresh rate of 90Hz and a touch sampling rate of 180Hz. This is comparable to last year’s TCL 30 XE. One notable upgrade from the older XE is the 5,000mAh battery (500mAh larger).
TCL40XL
Note the lack of “5G” in the name, the TCL 40 XL opts for a larger display than its next-gen connectivity. (refresh rate is 60Hz).
Last year’s 30 XL was similar, with a 6.82-inch HD+ display. This also matches his 40 SE with a 6.75-inch HD+ display (90Hz) that was announced at CES.
Like the X, this phone has a 50+2+2MP triple camera on the back and a notched 8MP camera on the front. Gone is the 5MP ultra-wide camera from last year’s model.
The XL’s storage is upsized to 128GB (expandable up to 512GB with a microSD card), but RAM remains at 4GB. The phone is powered by the Helio G37, a 12nm chip with eight Cortex-A53 cores and a PowerVR GE8320, which is pretty low-end compared to the 5G model above, but on par with the 40 SE.
The battery hasn’t been enlarged to match the large display and has the same 5,000mAh capacity as the X/XE. This model also uses face recognition and a side-mounted fingerprint reader.
At $150, the TCL 40 XL is $20 less than the 40 XE and 40 SE.
