TCL brings the 20 Pro 5G, 20S, and 20 SE budget phones to the US

TCL is bringing three of its 20-series phones to the US today, with the $499 20 Pro 5G leading the way. It’s joined by the $249 TCL 20S with a trimmed-down feature set and the $189 TCL 20 SE equipped with a massive display and 5,000mAh battery.

First announced in April, the 20 Pro 5G is positioned to take on midrange devices like the Google Pixel 4A 5G and Samsung Galaxy A52 5G. It features a large curved 6.67-inch 1080p OLED screen, a 48-megapixel main camera with OIS, wireless charging, and sub-6GHz 5G connectivity. The device comes standard with 256GB of built-in storage and 6GB of RAM coupled with a Snapdragon 750G processor. There’s even a headphone jack.

Photo: TCL

Qi wireless charging at up to 15W is supported, and the 20 Pro 5G is equipped with a 4,500mAh battery. It ships with Android 11, and TCL says it will get at least two OS platform updates. At launch, it will work on T-Mobile’s 4G and 5G networks and AT&T’s 4G, and will gain compatibility with Verizon’s 4G and low-band 5G networks “in the coming weeks.” Spec-for-spec, it looks like a worthy midrange competitor. Wireless charging is still somewhat scarce in the $500-and-below class, and the 20 Pro offers more built-in storage than the A52 5G or the Pixel 4A 5G for the same price. Throw in a big, 1080p OLED screen, and it’s an intriguing proposition.

A step down on the price scale, the 20S and 20 SE are equipped to compete with the Moto G and lower-tier Samsung Galaxy A-series devices of the world, with bigger-than-average screens and more generous built-in storage than is typical. The TCL 20S offers a 6.67-inch 1080p screen without the curve on the 20 Pro 5G — and misses out on a few of the higher-tier model’s features like wireless charging and an optically stabilized main camera. It uses a Snapdragon 665 processor with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage and offers a bigger 5,000mAh battery.

The 20 SE, as the least expensive of the three, gets a huge 6.82-inch 720p display, Snapdragon 460 processor with 4GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, and a 5,000mAh battery. It also looks the part of a budget device, with a more prominent chin compared to the 20S and its slimmer bezels as well as a notch for the front-facing camera. Both will work on AT&T and T-Mobile; the 20 SE won’t be compatible with Verizon, while the 20S will.