New HTC phone tomorrow; can it match Samsung Galaxy S7?

HTC is all set to announce its flagship devices for 2016 during an event on April 12.

After captivating the smartphone industry with an impressive design through its HTC M7 and adding spice to the series with the first of its kind dual rear camera on M8, the Taiwanese tech firm has almost gone the BlackBerry way – struggling for survival and hoping that every new flagship would eventually catapult it to glory.

HTC teased the announcement with this Facebook post and later followed it up with a YouTube video about why it is obsessed about the return of the boom sound.

Sound is the only major feature that HTC has teased about this time around, and it could mean that the new flagship could come with major audio enhancements. Although HTC has touted the Boom sound for the past three years, it has only made software enhancements to create the Boom effect.

Design wise, the new flagship could adopt the elements of HTC A9, rather than the M9. Although it suggests the removal of Boom speakers, like it did on the A9.

It was Evan Blass who is notorious for his leaks who first pointed out that the HTC 10 will have a similar look-and-feel to that of HTC A9. Which means that the speaker grill on the bottom panel of the device could go away.

Several images leaked by @Onleaks also point to a similar design, where the front speaker has shifted from the front panel below the screen and moved below, besides the USB-C type charger.

According to multiple leaks and rumours the Taiwanese tech firm would be launching not one but three variants of HTC 10 - it is rumoured that HTC could altogether drop the M from the naming series.

The 5.1-inch flagship is expected to come with a QHD Amoled display or QHD Super LCD 5 display.

The device will be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 chipset with 4GB RAM, 3000mAh batter. It is also rumoured that HTC could come out with three different screen sizes of 5.5, 5.1 and 4.7-inch display.

Qualcomm has already gone ahead and tweeted that it has powered the HTC 10.

HTC it is said is desperate to improve its camera performance following a disappointing show on M9. The HTC 10 could come with a rear camera equipped with 12-megapixel UltraPixel 2 sensor with laser auto focus and an optically stabilized f/1.8 lens.

So with this year's new model, HTC will be hoping that it can deliver a device a device that can not only take on the competition of Samsung's Galaxy S7 and LG's G5  but also compete at a price point with the likes of Huawei and the likes.

The past years saw HTC unveil its flagship devices at around the same time as the Mobile World Congress. This time around though the company has waited for its competitors to first unveil their flagship devices for 2016. That provides it with an opportunity to improvise on its offer. It remains to be seen if the company will manage to do so and still maintain a price advantage over the rest.

As HTC's own Teresa Basich notes in her blog post about "Top Considerations for Purchasing Your Next Smartphone", "When it comes to technology we’re often willing to spend more on it than we’re willing to spend on, well, most other things in life. But that doesn’t mean cost doesn’t matter. While we generally spend our time ogling the high-end, top-of-the-line devices, there are quite a few mid-range phones that look great and perform well for much less. Consider how long you tend to keep your phones, how active a lifestyle you lead and how much you really want to spend on this device," she notes. So HTC could well offer its customers a flagship device at a price lower than the Galaxy S7 in order to take on the challenge within the Android domain. Or will there be a Windows element to the new HTC 10? Let's wait and watch.

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