Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile
  3. News

TCL’s five new phones flesh out its budget lineup

Rahul Srinivas
By
what to expect at mwc 2017
Check out our complete coverage of MWC 2023

CES 2022 saw TCL announce two budget handsets for the U.S. market — the TCL 30 XE 5G and the 30 V 5G. These devices are already on sale and are priced well under the $300 mark. Not content having announced just two budget smartphones this year, TCL seems to be taking Mobile World Congress 2022 as an opportunity to expand its range of affordable smartphones further, this time for Europe and select other markets.

This is why the company, on the sidelines of the 2022 MWC, launched a bunch of affordable smartphones — all priced below $300. The handsets announced today are part of TCL’s affordable 30 series and include five models: The TCL 30, TCL 30 5G, TCL 30+, TCL 30 SE, and the TCL 30 E.

Recommended Videos

A quick glance at the spec sheet of all five devices reveals that the TCL 30 5G, TCL 30+, and TCL 30 are basically the same phones that not only share the same design but have near-identical hardware. It’s a similar story with the TCL 30 SE and the TCL 30, with these two phones sharing stuff from the same parts bin. We’ll highlight the key differences between these smartphones in the sections below.

Related

TCL 30 5G, 30+ and TCL 30

The front and rear design of the TCL 30 5G smartphone
TCL

The TCL 30 5G, TCL 30+, and TCL 30 share the same design and most of the same hardware specs. However, being the only 5G-capable device of the lot, the TCL 30 5G gets the MediaTek Dimensity 700 system on a chip, as opposed to the MediaTek Helio G37 chipset found on the other two phones. Specs common to all three handsets include:

  • 6.7-inch, 60Hz AMOLED display with FHD+ resolution
  • A 5,010 mAh battery that supports 18-watt fast charging
  • 50MP primary, 2MP depth, and macro cameras
  • Android 12 with TCL UI
  • Dual-SIM support (one variant of the TCL 50 5G comes in a single SIM variant)

The TCL 30 5G and the 30+ get 128GB of onboard storage as opposed to 64GB for the TCL 30. Curiously, the spec sheet also talks about one specific variant of the TCL 30 5G that only gets 64GB storage. It remains unclear where TCL intends to launch this variant. While the TCL 30 5G and TCL 30+ get a 13MP camera for selfies, the front-facing camera on the TCL 30 uses an 8MP sensor.

TCL 30 SE and TCL 30 E

The various color options of the TCL 30 SE smartphone.
TCL

Positioned below the other three handsets discussed above, the TCL 30 SE and the TCL 30 E share many common features between them. They include:

  • 6.52-inch HD+ display
  • A 5,000 mAh battery with a 10W charger
  • 50MP main camera, 2MP depth camera
  • MediaTek Helio G25 processor
  • MicroSD card support
  • Dual SIM card support

As for the differences, the pricier of the two phones — the TCL 30 SE — gets a variant that offers 128GB of internal storage. This phone also gets an additional 2MP sensor for macro shots, which is missing on the TCL 30 E. As opposed to the 8MP front camera on the TCL 30 SE, the TCL 30 E gets by with a 5MP sensor. The TCL 30 SE is also available in an additional color variant compared to the 30 E, which gets only two color options.

Pricing and availability

All five smartphones announced today are Europe-bound, with a global launch likely in the months to come. The TCL 30 5G is the priciest of the lot at 249 euros ($280). The TCL 30+ will set you back by 199 euros ($225), while the TCL 30 will retail for 179 euros ($200). As for the TCL 30 SE and the TCL 30E, these devices will cost you 149 euros ($167) and 139 euros ($156), respectively. Except for the TCL 30 5G and the TCL 30E, all other handsets go on sale in Europe today. It is unclear at this time if these five handsets will make it to the U.S.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Rahul Srinivas
Rahul Srinivas
Rahul is a smartphone buff turned tech journalist who has been tinkering with all things mobile since the early 2000s. He has…
The ROG Phone 6 Diablo Edition looks like it’s straight out of hell
ASUS ROG Phone 6 Diablo Edition unboxed

“Do you guys not have phones?” Well, what about a Diablo-themed phone? If you’ve ever wanted a smartphone decked out in all things Diablo, then Asus has you covered. Asus partnered with Blizzard for a special edition of the ROG Phone 6, based off of the mobile game, Diablo Immortal. The unique theming isn’t just on the hardware, but the software as well — everything about this phone is based on Diablo, from the setup process all the way down to even the notification sounds. If you’re even the slightest Diablo fan (whether or not you like Immortal), there’s a lot to like here.

While I've spent hundreds of hours playing Diablo 2 and Diablo 3, and I'm eagerly waiting for Diablo 4, I personally haven't spent much time in Diablo Immortal just because I'm not a huge fan of microtransactions and free-to-play games. But that doesn't make me any less excited for a Diablo-themed smartphone.
This is undoubtedly a Diablo gaming phone

Read more
Xiaomi’s new phone has a 200MP camera — and its photos are stunning
Holding the Xiaomi 12T Pro to take a photo.

There was a time when phones with 48-megapixel cameras sounded impressive, and when some of our favorite camera phones still “only” have 12 megapixels today. But for the new 12T Pro, Xiaomi has decided 12, 48, or even 108 megapixels isn’t the headline number it wants — and has therefore used Samsung’s ISOCELL HP1 200-megapixel camera instead.
Taking photos with a 200MP camera
Samsung announced the ISOCELL HP1 sensor in 2021, and the Xiaomi 12T Pro is the first phone to use it. There’s also plenty of speculation it may also be a major feature on the future Galaxy S23 smartphone range. Until now, we’ve only seen a massive photo of a cat teasing the camera’s ability, so what’s it like in real life?

Before we talk about the photos, you need to know the size of the 200MP photos taken by the Xiaomi 12T Pro. Yes, it is possible to shoot in maximum resolution, but by default, the camera takes 12MP photos using 4-into-1 pixel binning technology. Beware, though — the 200MP mode photos are massive. We’re talking 16,384 pixels by 12,288 pixels and, on average, about 55MB each. Tap the shutter button, and there is a slight pause while the photo is processed, but it’s not all that different from using the regular camera mode. The 200MP photos I’ve taken have a lovely balance, with vibrant colors and great exposure, and are sometimes even better looking than the equivalent 12MP photos taken by the phone.

Read more
This new Google Lens feature looks like it’s straight out of a sci-fi movie
google lens ar translate news 2

Google has introduced AR Translate as part of a trio of updates for Google Lens that are aimed at taking image translation further into the future. The company held a demonstration at the Google Search On 2022 conference on Wednesday to show that AR Translate can use AI to make images featuring a foreign language look more natural after text is translated to another language.

Currently, any text that's converted into a different language uses colored blocks to mask bits of the background image. AR Translate better preserves the image by removing the blocks and just swapping the text outright to make the translated image look as though it was the original photo.

Read more