The asymmetric unit of the title compound, C18H15ClTe, contains two mol-ecules which are in inverted orientations. The compound displays a tetra-hedral geometry around the Te atom in spite of there being five electron domains. This is attributed to the fact that the lone pair is not sterically active. The dihedral angles between the three phenyl rings are 76.51 (16)/73.75 (16)/71.06 (17) and 78.60 (17)/77.67 (16)/79.11 (16)° in the two mol-ecules. The crystal packing features eight C-H⋯π inter-actions.