Here is the affordable TCL foldable phone that could have been

For over two years, TCL has been showing reporters prototypes of possible foldable telephones. One had a 10-inch screen that curved in thirds. Another had a screen that wrapped around his wrist. Another had a large screen that closed like a book, one had a screen that you could pull out to expand into a tablet, and a more futuristic model included foldable and scrollable displays in the same device.

And then there was a clamshell model that looked very similar Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip and Motorola’s Razr. This device, codenamed the Chicago Project, is the one TCL is slated to launch early in the fourth quarter. The goal was to sell the phone for less than Samsung’s foldable devices, valued at $ 1,000 and up, and Motorola’s Razr for $ 1,400. The Chinese giant had the foldable almost finished – and this week CNET even shipped one of the near-finished prototypes to prove it was real – but ultimately decided to scrap it and start over.

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Now TCL will only have been launching its first foldable device for at least 12 to 18 months, said Stefan Streit, TCL’s chief marketing officer, in an interview prior to the announcement on Friday. And when it introduces the device, it won’t be Chicago, but a redesigned product. Hopes for a cheaper foldable device will have to wait for now.

“We were able to finish this product and bring it to market, but it kind of felt … not right,” said Streit. “For us this category is really very important. We will bring products. We will bring a number of products.” Just not the first device TCL thought would hit the market.

While TCL has been selling phones under the inexpensive Alcatel brand for years – and for a short time under the name BlackBerry – it has only been selling devices under its own TCL branding since the beginning of 2020. It’s among the top players in televisions, but TCL doesn’t have the mobile recognition it needs to attract people willing to try a new category of products like foldable products. Even Samsung, the world’s largest phone maker, is still in its infancy in getting consumers to trust that foldable devices are tough enough to withstand normal daily use.

TCL decided to cancel the launch of its first foldable device due to several “commercial” factors – weakness of its brand, expensive components due to the pandemic, and lack of porter support, Streit said.

TCL’s move, perhaps above all, is an affirmation that foldable devices may not be ready for mainstream users – at least not in bulk and at low prices.

Foldable devices remain a tiny part of the overall smartphone market. According to Strategy Analytics, vendors will sell around 7 million such devices this year, while companies will sell 1.35 billion normal smartphones. Last month’s estimate included potential TCL sales.

Strategy Analytics analyst Ken Hyers said in August only when Apple launches its first foldables, possibly in the second half of 2023, the devices will be sold in higher numbers. His company expects that around 15 million foldable trucks will be sold worldwide in 2023 and more than double that in the following year. Strategy Analytics said the number of foldable devices sold worldwide is expected to reach nearly 170 million by 2026.

TCL had set a goal of bringing a full-featured foldable device to market by the end of 2021 that cost less than Samsung’s devices, but the lowest price it could get on its first device was $ 800 said argument. Samsung’s new Z Flip 3 starts at $ 1,000 while the Z Fold 3 retails for $ 1,800.

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

Competing with the Z Flip 3

At the same time, some of the Chicago specs aren’t as high-quality as the Z Flip 3. The two devices look similar, but the foldable TCL is a little thicker, a little wider, and a little heavier. And the front screen is 1.1 inches diagonally smaller than 1.9 inches on the Z Flip 3. The interior screens are about the same size: 6.67 inches diagonal for TCL and 6.7 inches for Samsung.

Chicago isn’t waterproof like the Z Flip 3 and probably isn’t as rugged, Streit said. It uses Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 765G processor, which isn’t as fast or as powerful as the Z Flip 3’s Snapdragon 888. Chicago also has a slower version of 5G and couldn’t be used on Verizon’s ultra-broadband network. The fastest download speed is 2.7 Gbps compared to the Snapdragon 888’s peak of 7.5 Gbps.

Chicago would have been available in one color, “Pastel Gold”, which looks like a peach-colored, matte plastic body with gold metal details on the sides and edges of the hinge. In addition to Samsung’s cream-colored Z Flip 3, the devices are sometimes difficult to distinguish.

One area where Chicago could have had an advantage over the Z Flip 3 is that portion of the interior display where it folds in half. The crease in the prototype sent to CNET is less pronounced – both visually and when touching the display – than on the Z Flip 3. Patrick Holland from CNET, who rated Samsung’s foldable devices?, said the crease on the Z Flip 3 doesn’t bother him, although it is noticeable when interacting with the center of the screen.

TCL decided to cancel Chicago ahead of Samsung’s Unpacked event in August, Streit said. But the sight of the Z Flip 3 cemented his decision, even though Chicago was done except for tweaks to features like the software and the hinge.

“I use it every day,” Streit said of Chicago. “Nothing has changed,” he said that TCL believes in foldable products, but market conditions must improve before a consumer device hits the market. At the moment, TCL has already started work on the foldable device it actually plans to sell.

That device, while similar to Chicago, will be thinner and tougher, Streit said, but it will likely still be a clamshell clamshell design.

“It’s … the most natural step from where we came from,” he said.

The hope is that the market will be ready for a cheaper foldable device in late 2022 or early 2023, Streit said. Component prices are likely to return to normal, TCL’s brand will grow stronger, 5G will be widely used to allow wireless carriers to support other phones, consumers will look for new types of devices, and prices will finally be low enough for wide adoption, he said.

“We believe that this … is the better time for TCL to then bring something to market that … will hopefully penetrate other mass-market segments,” said Streit.

For anyone curious about what could have been, here are the key 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

Interior 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

Storage

• 6 GB RAM and 128 GB flash memory

Battery and charging

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

backup camera

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