TCL has been a known resident at MWC for the past couple of years. Usually, they announce a few different smartphones, most of them from the budget or mid-range categories. 2019 is no different. The Chinese OEM just announced three devices under the Alcatel brand and showed off prototypes of its DragonHinge foldable displays. Let's take a look.
Alcatel 1S
This is the cheapest smartphone under the Alcatel brand this year at MWC. The Alcatel 1S is a budget smartphone which features the Unisoc SC9863A octa-core system-on-chip clocked at 1.6 GHz, 3 GB of RAM, 32 GB of internal storage, 5.5-inch HD+ display with 18:9 aspect ratio, and 3,060 mAh battery. On the back of the phone, you'll see a 13MP + 2MP dual-camera system, as well as the fingerprint scanner just below it. The front camera lens is just 5MP. It is also worth noting that this smartphone is running Android Pie.
Alcatel 1S will be for purchase in the second quarter of 2019. It comes in four colors: Black, Blue, Rose and Gold, and costs just €109.
Alcatel 3
The next representative of the newly announced smartphone family is the Alcatel 3. It is slightly more powerful version of the previous model, but it's still nowhere near the mid-range territory. The Alcatel 3 comes with a more capable Qualcomm Snapdragon 439 octa-core system-on-chip which is clocked at 2.0 GHz, 3/4 GB of RAM, 32/64 GB of internal storage, 5.94-inch HD+ display at a 19.5:9 aspect ratio, and 3,500 mAh battery. The front-facing camera is bumped up to 8MP, while the rear dual-camera system configuration is 13MP + 5MP. You will also see a fingerprint scanner on the back of the phone. Surprisingly, this model comes with Android 8.1 Oreo, but TCL promises that they will update it to Android Pie soon after launch.
The Alcatel 3 will be available for purchase in Q2 of 2019 for €159 (3/32) and €189 (4/64) in Gradient Black Blue and Gradient Blue Purple color options.
Alcatel 3L
The last device in our list is the lite version of the Alcatel 3. The Alcatel 3L sports the slightly lower-end Qualcomm Snapdragon 429, which is still a quad-core processor, clocked at 2.0 GHz. It also features 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of internal storage. Battery capacity, camera systems, display size, and software version are exactly the same as the Alcatel 3. According to TCL, the fingerprint scanner on the device will be available only in some regions.
Alcatel 3L will be available alongside its two siblings in Q2 of 2019. The smartphone will come in Metallic Blue and Anthracite Black.
DragonHinge Foldable Displays
TCL also talked a bit about their DragonHinge low-cost foldable display concept. At this point, it's just a prototype, but the Chinese manufacturer plans to use them in the future in real smartphones. They came up with some unique usages of the foldable display, like wrist-strap and some others. Affordable smartphones with DragonHinge foldable displays are said to hit the market next year in 2020.