With a price tag of Rs 52,990, does HTC’s 2016 flagship smartphone have enough to take on its competitors?
HTC launched its flagship smartphone, the HTC 10 in India. One of the key highlights of the smartphone is its metal unibody design, the front and rear cameras with OIS, fingerprint scanner embedded inside the home buttons and Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow OS. The smartphone will compete with the likes of Samsung Galaxy S7, Xiaomi Mi 5 and Apple iPhone 6s. We compared all four smartphones based on their price, specifications and features, here’s how they fare.
Price and availability:
The new HTC 10 is priced at Rs 52,990 and be available to purchase starting June 5. Samsung’s Galaxy S7 is priced at Rs 48,900 and is available across online and offline retailers, where the Xiaomi Mi 5 is priced at Rs 24,999 and is available to purchase via weekly sales on Mi.com. Apple’s iPhone 6s, on the other hand, is priced at Rs 46,499 for 16GB storage variant, Rs 59,360 for 64GB variant and Rs 68,400 for 128GB variant. It is available to purchase both online and at offline retailers.
Display:
The HTC 10 flaunts a 5.2-inch QHD Super LCD 5 display (2560x1440pixels), which according to HTC is up to 30 percent more colorful and up to 50 percent more responsive than its predecessor, the HTC One M9. Xiaomi’s Mi 5 comes with a 5.15-inch full HD (1080p) curved glass display whereas the Galaxy S7 comes with a 5.1-inch QHD display. The Apple iPhone 6s sports a 4.7-inch HD IPS LED-backlit LCD display.
Chipset and RAM:
Both the Xiaomi Mi 5 and HTC 10 are powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820 quad-core processor paired with Adreno 530 GPU. While the HTC 10 comes with 4GB of RAM, Xiaomi has equipped its Mi 5 with 3GB of RAM. Samsung’s Galaxy S7 is powered by an Exynos 8890 64-bit octa-core processor paired with 4GB of RAM, whereas the iPhone 6s is powered by Apple A9 dual-core processor paired with 2GB of RAM.
Storage:
The HTC 10 comes with 32GB of onboard storage and a microSD card slot for further expansion. The Xiaomi Mi 5 comes with 32GB onboard storage, whereas the iPhone 6s is offered in 16GB, 64GB and 128GB onboard storage options. Unfortunately, both smartphones lack the option of expandable storage. Samsung’s Galaxy S7, on the other hand, comes with 32GB of onboard storage and a microSD card slot for further expansion.
Cameras:
For shutterbugs, the HTC 10 is equipped with a 12-UltraPixel camera of aperture f/1.8 with optical image stabilization (OIS), laser auto-focus, and 4K video recording capabilities. Up front is a 5-megapixel auto-focus selfie camera of aperture f/1.8 with OIS. The Mi 5 sports a 16-megapixel rear camera with phase detection auto focus, 4-axis OIS and dual tone LED flash and a 4-megapixel front-facing unit.
Samsung’s Galaxy S7 is equipped with a 12-megapixel rear camera of aperture f/1.7 with phase detection auto-focus and optical image stabilization. It comes with duo-pixel technology that offers for faster auto-focus and a 1.4um pixel sensor to ensure good low light performance. For selfie lovers, there is a 5-megapixel front-camera of aperture f/1.7.
Apple’s iPhone 6s is equipped with a 12-megapixel rear camera of aperture f/2.2 with phase detection auto focus, dual-tone dual-LED flash and 4K video recording capabilities. Up front is a 5-megapixel sensor of aperture f/2.2 and it can record full HD videos too.
Battery:
The HTC 10, Mi 5 and Samsung Galaxy S7 are equipped with 3,000mAh non-removable batteries. While the HTC 10 and Mi 5 support Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 3.0 that can charge the battery from 0-80percent in 30 minutes, the Galaxy S7 includes support for fast charging and wireless charging. The iPhone 6s is equipped with a 1,715mAh battery, which Apple claims to offer talktime of up to 14 hours on 3G and up to 50 hours of music playback on single charge.
Connectivity:
The Mi 5 and HTC 10 come equipped with the USB Type-C connectivity port for charging and data transfer along with 4G LTE, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi 802.11ac and GPS connectivity options. The Mi 5 also includes support for dual SIM card slots.
Samsung’s Galaxy S7 features a micro-USB connectivity port, dual SIM card support (nano SIM and one hybrid slot which allows you to use either two SIM cards, or one SIM card and one microSD card). Other connectivity options include 4G LTE, Bluetooth, GPS and Wi-Fi 802.11ac. The iPhone 6s features connectivity options such as Wi-Fi 802.11ac, 4G LTE, Bluetooth and GPS.
Operating system:
The iPhone 6s runs on Apple’s iOS 9.3. While the Xiaomi Mi 5 runs on Android 5.1 Lollipop-based MIUI 7, it is due to get an update to Android Marshmallow based MIUI 8 in the coming weeks. Samsung’s Galaxy S7 runs on Android Marshmallow wrapped under TouchWiz UI, whereas the HTC 10 also runs on Android Marshmallow wrapped under HTC Sense UI 8.
Miscellaneous features:
HTC 10 features a metal unibody design, Boomsound Hi-Fi edition with Dolby Audio support, and 24-bit Hi-Res audio recording capabilities that can capture up to 256 times more details compared to standard recording.
Samsung’s Galaxy S7 sports a metal frame with front and back curved glass. The smartphone also includes a fingerprint scanner embedded within the home button and a heart rate sensor at the back. That’s not all; the Galaxy S7 also features IP68 certification for water and dust resistance capabilities.
The Mi 5 sports a unibody design with curved front and back glass, and also comes with a fingerprint scanner embedded within the home button. While the smartphone looks aesthetically appealing, we found it to be slippery in our day-to-day use. Apple’s iPhone 6s features a metal unibody desing and also comes integrated with a Touch ID fingerprint scanner embedded within the home button.
On paper, the HTC 10 has everything that one could expect from a flagship smartphone. However, we’re not quite pleased with the pricing. The Galaxy S7 which is almost Rs 4,000 cheaper is one of the best flagship smartphones currently out there, all in terms of battery life, features and functionality.
Key Comparison
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HTC 10 vs Samsung Galaxy S7 vs Xiaomi Mi 5
vs Apple iPhone 6s
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