As year’s biggest smartphone showdown, the MWC, succumbs to the coronavirus fever, Renders of TCL’s newest ‘slide-out’ phone came about on CNET.com.
The phone looks like an ordinary phone until it is locked, with a hole in the front screen for a selfie-shooter, a quad camera setup on the back in a vertical array, and a smooth metal back. The non-foldable image of the front of this phone is in fact pretty similar to the TCL 10Pro. However, things are taken up a notch when you open up the ‘slidable’ edge, as it turns completely tablet like.
The design of the phone seems more like a continuous display, which has been given a break in between. Of course, the phone is physically not out yet hence it is difficult to say how exactly will the device’s folding mechanism function. But by the looks of it, it seems as if the secondary screen will fold behind the primary one, coming out and re-joining as soon as the slide is brought out. This render was supposed to be one to be shown to journalists if the MWC 2020 had happened.
However, the functioning of how this display works, or if it will even look half as good as the images, are still shrouded in mystery. Still, if last year is anything to go by, the phone could possibly not even be close to what it seems like. At MWC 2019, TCL showed its foldable phone, which in hand was a device encased in glass.
The foldable phone technology that spread like wildfire, has failed to meet consumer expectations for now. The plot just seems gimmicky and the phones feel fragile and unfinished. All the foldable phones that we have had to date, including Moto Razr and Galaxy Fold have failed to produce satisfactory results, and thus, TCL’s decision to wait out market distribution of its final device seems wise. By that standard, we expect a long time before slidable phones are actually a thing in the market.
MWC, the year’s biggest mobile meet, was cancelled recently, due to the Coronavirus outbreak. Companies were pulling out of the ordeal from a long time, even with assurance of security measures and complete health check ups. Others like Samsung were reluctant to completely pull out, but still said that they would send less representatives this time around. So with the paranoia of all the companies, the committee in charge decided to call the event off completely, a decision whose repercussions on the mobile market are yet to be seen.
