TCL’s foldable phone that would be destined to take on the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 will not arrive this year due to a number of production issues.
Flip phones seem to be here to stay. At present, the number of companies participating in the launch of this class of devices can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Yes indeed, The name that comes to mind without making any effort is Samsung. The South Korean firm has taken over the market with its Fold and its Flip.
These folding devices seem to be the only ones that exist and, although they are the most widespread, companies like Motorola also have devices with these capabilities. The rest of the companies are taking it easy to launch folding equipment to the market, although a company that promised a lot has left its folding in the air.
TCL arrived a couple of years ago in our territory and with its arrival it brought a series of mid- and low-end devices, but also a promise of innovation in the mobile telephony sector.. This promise was to offer teams with folding capacities to compete face to face against Samsung.
The company has communicated to the world that it has pressed the pause button in the project they had in hand. This folding device would have been the main rival of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3, although it would have the advantage of a much more affordable starting price. And, is that, TCL has always commented that they want to make folding for everyone.
The decision is motivated both by the situation that the planet has gone through due to the pandemic and by the shortage of components that has made them decide not to launch this device. What happens is that the combination of these two events has raised manufacturing costs and, therefore, the device would be more expensive at launch..
TCL may be doing the right thing, but it would have been nice to see some competition in the foldable device market. In addition, the launch of a device with these characteristics at a mid-range or upper-middle-range price would represent a turning point in the market for foldable Android devices.