TCL 40 XL: Cheaper, but black sheep?

While the race is intensifying between the different brands to offer as many 5G phones as possible, the majority of brands continue to arm themselves with 4G phones – this is the case of TCL which launched three phones at MWC: TCL 40 XE 5G, TCL 40 X 5G and TCL 40 XL. You will have noticed the first two are equipped with 5G while the last one is devoid of it. But is it a flop?

Let’s review the features of the TCL 40 XL

Notice the absence of “5G” in the name – indeed the TCL 40 XL chooses a larger screen instead of next-generation connectivity. This display has a diagonal of 6.75 inches, although it has retained the HD+ resolution of its 5G brethren, but with the lower refresh rate of 60 Hz.

This was also the case with the 30 XL last year, this one had a 6.82-inch HD+ display. This is also comparable to the 40 SE that was announced at CES with a 6.75-inch (90Hz) HD+ display.

Like the 40 X 5G, it has a 50+2+2MP triple camera setup on the back and an 8MP notched camera on the front. Last year’s model’s 5MP ultra-wide camera is gone.

Storage on the XL is increased to 128GB (expandable with microSD cards up to 512GB), although RAM remains at 4GB. The phone is powered by the Helio G37, a 12nm chip with eight Cortex-A53 cores and a PowerVR GE8320, fairly low-end compared to the 5G models listed above but on par with the 40 SE.

The battery hasn’t been scaled to match the larger screen and has the same 5,000mAh capacity as the X/XE. This model also uses face unlock and a side fingerprint reader.

In summary, although the TCL 40 XL is not 5G, its contained price of $ 150, and its features still make it a nice cheap offering. It’s $20 cheaper than the 40 XE and 40 SE launched earlier this year in the Asian market.

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