New Phones added to TCL Portfolio in Canada

TCL Technology is one of those companies that has hitherto flown under the radar in Canada. Consumers know it for its televisions – up to 75-inch models, many of which have Roku built-in – but most of its other offerings have not been available here.

The company is aiming to change this. In the next phase in its avatar in the country, TCL has launched its branded mobile phones, the TCL 10 Pro and the TCL 10L, a pair of well-configured smartphones at a relatively modest price, Bell, Kudo, TELUS and In Virgin Mobile. Although other TCL-made phones have been available in Canada for years - TCL owns the Alcatel brand, and made BlackBerry phones under license until this month - these are the first devices that it has released in its name here.

TCL 10 Pro:

Jason Gerdon, head of the global communications division at TCL, said it was a deliberate move.

"For us, it was important to have the right time to bring in the TCL brand, but it is also with the right portfolio of products in the right way," he said. "If you look at where Alcatel is, for example - and it's not going away, it will continue to be part of our portfolio - it's still the entry space device. But we need to look at that core consumer value proposition in our products. K needed something that fit with the rest of the ecosystem. That's why you see the 10 Pro and 10L. They're step-up devices, they're a bit more premium.

In particular, he said, the new phones leverage TCL's expertise with respected display technology throughout their years of producing high-quality TVs. The TCL 10 Pro and 10L are what he describes as premium mid-tier devices, which he says are consistent with the rest of the company's products.

The introduction of Canadians to TCL TV was a deliberate first. Geron said the idea was to reinforce the notion that TCL offers great display quality at a reasonable price, paving the way for the phone's display quality. Over time, he said that more products from the company's portfolio would be sold here; The phone is just the first step.

"This is a big launch for us and is something that honestly works for some time," he said. “We really focus not just on the TCL brand, but the TCL consumer electronics ecosystem and the smartphone as the centralized hub of that ecosystem. This is just one step at a time, and choosing the right building blocks will allow us to focus on more devices, more products, and actually build within the TCL Consumer Electronics portfolio. "