We have seen TCL teasing various foldable and rollable prototypes while it planned to release its first foldable in 2021. CNET had the chance to try out the Project Chicago foldable and has all the details of what we almost saw in 2021. As you can see, it looks to offer a similar experience to the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 that turns out to be the most fun I have had with a phone in a long time. See also: TCL 20 Pro 5G review: Stunning design, lovely display, capable quad-camera system. With the new public details on TCL’s Project Chicago and the time I’ve spent with the Z Flip 3, I’m even more disappointed to hear the news that TCL is putting a hold on its foldable release. Stefan Streit, CMO of TCL Communication, provided the following statement: Despite the indefinite hold, I’m thrilled to see how far TCL has come with its first foldable and am excited about the future. Regular readers know I’m all in on foldable phones as productivity tools, and it’s great to see we will have affordable competitors challenging Samsung and others in the future. Although the foldable market is growing each year, it is still a premium product category. In combination with recent component shortages, the COVID-19 pandemic and rising costs in foldable production, TCL has made the difficult decision to suspend the launch of its first commercially available foldable smartphone until the company can produce and bring it to market at a price point that’s accessible to as many consumers as possible. TCL remains committed to investing in flexible display technologies and is closely monitoring the market to determine the best time to launch a foldable smartphone. In the meantime, we continue to focus on our “5G for All” initiative introduced at Mobile World Congress 2021, in which we work with carriers around the world to deliver 5G solutions to all consumers across a variety of price points and product categories.
