TCL expands its affordable 30-series smartphone lineup with five more models

TCL’s affordable 30-series smartphone family has just grown considerably with no less than five new models, making for a total of seven. The new devices start at just €139 for the TCL 30 E and go up to €249 for the TCL 5G, while offering some nice features like 50-megapixel triple cameras on all models, along with AMOLED displays and 5,000 mAh batteries. Along with the phones, TCL introduced the NXTPAPER MAX 10, the latest and largest tablet using its full color paper-like display. 

The new smartphone models are the TCL 30 5G (€249), TCL 30+ (€199), TCL 30 (€179 ), and TCL 30 SE (€149 ) and TCL 30 E (€139). They share some common features, with all models having a 50-megapixel main rear camera setup and 5,000 mAh minimum batteries. All but the TCL 30 E have rear triple AI cameras as well, with the 30 E packing having a dual rear cameras. The TCL 30 5G, TCL 30+, and TCL 30 also have slightly bigger 5010mAh batteries and support 18W fast charging. 

The top-end TCL 30 5G is the only model with 5G capability, and also offers an ultrawide front camera. You also get a 6.7-inch 60 Hz FHD+ AMOLED screen, MediaTek Dimensity 700 CPU, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of expandable storage. 

The next two models, the TCL 30+ and TCL 30 have similar features, but lack 5G support and have lower-end MediaTek Helio G37 chipsets. The TCL 30+ has an ultrawide front camera like the 5G model, but that’s missing on the TCL 30. Finally, the TCL 30 SE and 30 E (above) step things down another notch, as it were, with smaller 6.52-inch mini-notch displays, slightly smaller batteries with no fast charging and MediaTek G25 chipsets.

As the prices imply, all the models are set to be launched in Europe. Given that the first two 30-sieres models came to the US, we can hope that some or all of the models might be sold here too — but TCL has yet to say which other regions will get them. 

On top of the smartphones, TCL launched another tablet that uses its color paper-like screen, the NXTPAPER MAX 10 (above). It follows last year’s 8.88-inch NXTPAPER and uses the same low-power reflective LCD that “reuses natural light” so there’s no need for backlighting, according to TCL. However, it packs a larger 10.36-inch display with an 83% screen-to-body ratio. 

Other features include 4G or WiFi connectivity, a MediaTek MT8788 chipset, 13-megapixel rear/8-megapixel front cameras and an 8,000 mAh battery. It goes on sale starting in Asia from mid Q2 2022 and will be available starting from €269 in Europe, but again, TCL didn’t say where else it would be sold.