New phones of the week - MWC 2022 edition

MWC 2022 is officially in the books and it brought over plenty of new smartphones. The announcements kept pilling on even after the four-day conference so let’s recap all the new phone hardware that made it to the market.

Starting off the list chronologically, TCL unveiled five new phones as part of its TCL 30 series. TCL 30 5G is a Dimensity 700 powered phone with a 6.7-inch AMOLED, 50MP main cam and a 5,010 mAh battery with 18W charging. It retails for €250 and is coming to Europe in April. Next up is the TCL 30+ priced at €200 which also brings a 6.7-inch AMOLED and 5,010 mAh battery with 18W charging and a 50MP main cam but downgrades the chipset to a Helio G37. TCL 30 is going for €180 and is mostly the same phone as the TCL 30+ but with an 8MP selfie cam and slower 10W charging.

TCL 30 5G • TCL 30+ • TCL 30

TCL also has its 30 SE which brings a 6.52-inch LCD with HD+ resolution and is powered by the Helio G25 chipset and has the same 50MP triple cam setup as the other 30-series phones for an asking price of €150. TCL 30 E is the fifth and final device from the maker. It boasts the same core specs as the 30 SE but only 3GB RAM and 64GB storage though it comes out to €140.

Nokia announced a trio of new phones and the C21 Plus is the mightiest of them all with its 6.5-inch LCD with HD+ resolution, Unisoc SC9863A chipset and 4,000 mAh battery. Nokia C21 has the same display and chipset but with a maximum of 3GB RAM and 64GB storage but it comes with a smaller 3,000 mAh battery and a single rear 8MP cam. Both phones boot Android 11 Go Edition though pricing and availability were not provided.

Nokia C2 2nd edition is an even more budget-oriented device with a 5.7-inch 480 x 960px LCD, unnamed quad-core chipset, 5MP rear camera and a 2,400 mAh battery.

Realme brought its GT2 Pro and GT2 to the global market priced at €449 and €649 respectively.

Xiaomi added two new Poco models to its lineup with the Poco X4 Pro 5G and Poco M4 Pro. Both bring AMOLED displays with a 120Hz refresh rate on the former and 90Hz on the latter. The X4 Pro starts at €300 and comes with a Snapdragon 695 chipset, you also get a108MP main cam and a 5,000 mAh battery with 67W charging. The M4 Pro which starts at €220 relies on the Helio G96 SoC and settles for a 50MP main camera and 33W charging for its 5,000 mAh battery.

Honor debuted its Magic4 series flagships which pack Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipsets, curved 6.8-inch OLEDs (LTPO 2.0 on the Pro model) and 50MP main and ultrawide cameras. The Pro gets a fancier 64MP periscope with 3.5 optical and 100x digital zoom as well as blazing fast 100W wired and wireless charging. The vanilla settles for an 8MP telephoto and 66W wired speeds. Honor Magic4 starts at €899 while the Pro is €1,099.

Four ZTE Blade V40 phones made their way to the market.Blade V40 Pro gets a 6.67-inch AMOLED, Unisoc T618 chipset, 64MP main cam and a 5,100 mAh battery with 65W charging. Blade V40 tones down to a 48MP main cam and offers slower charging at 22.5W while the rest of the specs are in line with the Pro. Blade V40 5G has a Dimensity 700 chipset, 6.67-inch LCD and a huge 6,000 mAh battery with 22.5W charging. Last but not least Blade V40 Vita brings a 6.75-inc display with a 90Hz refresh rate, Unisoc chipset and 6.000 mAh battery with 22.5W charging.

Elsewhere vivo announced its Y33s 5G midranger in China for CNY1,299 ($205/€185) with a Dimensity 700 chip, a 6.51-inch LCD and a 5,000 mAh battery with 18W charging.

Lenovo debuted its Legion Y90 gaming phone with RGB glowing logo, 6.92-inch 144hz AMOLED, the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip, shoulder keys and a pressure-sensitive back zone as well as a 5,600 mAh battery with 68W fast charging. Its retail is set at NY 4,300 ($680/€610).

Motorola’s Moto G22 is a €170 midranger with a 6.5-inch HD+ LCD with a 90Hz refresh rate, 50MP main cam and a 5,000 mAh battery.

Samsung debuted its Galaxy A13 4G and A23 4G as well as the M23 and M33. The first pair offers 6.6-inch TFT LCD with FHD+ resolution, 50MP main cams and 5,000 mAh batteries with 25W charging. The M23 and M33 also share plenty of key specs like their 6.6-inch TFT LCDs and 50MP main cams but the M33 boasts a larger 6,000 mAh battery while the M23 gets a 5,000mAh cell.

Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 11E 5G, Oppo’s Reno7 Z 5G and Realme V25 were among the other devices launched this week.