HTC is in for a make-or-break year with the anticipated 2016 release of the HTC One M10, its upcoming flagship smartphones that fans hope will bring the Taiwanese company back on track in the race to become one of the world's best smartphone makers.
Despite its weak camera, the HTC One M8 was highly praised by critics and loyal fans, but its successor, the HTC One M9, turned out to be a huge dud, bringing down with it HTC's reputation and its profits in the process. HTC has promised a number of new handsets that fans have expected to take on the role of being the "hero phone" to revive HTC's fortunes, but none of them so far have proven to be that phone, although the midrange HTC One A9 looks to be a solid smartphone.
The wait may finally soon be over with the first reports about the HTC One M10. The rumored flagship is expected to be unveiled sometime in March 2016, which is in line with HTC's launch timeline for its previous flagships, according to Chinese website Mobile-Dad. The website has gotten hold of the first renders for the One M10, which shows a sleek, shiny phone with a metal case and slim bezels. At the back of the phone is the same vertical line that connects the camera module to the frame, the same line that can be seen in its predecessors.
Mobile-Dad says the One M10 will run on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820, which is due for unveiling very soon. This will reportedly be paired with 4 GB of RAM and a 64 GB or 128 GB internal storage with a microSD slot. The display size is expected to be big, as in 6 inches big, although HTC is also said to be preparing a smaller 5-inch version for people who prefer more compact screens. Rumor has it that the display will sport 4K resolution, but considering the One M9 still has a Full HD display, it's more realistic for the One M10 to get a 1,440 x 2,560 display resolution.
At the back of the device will reportedly be a 27-megapixel camera, one of HTC's ways to make up for the poor cameras in its previous flagships. The phone is said to have a 3,500 mAh battery and will be the next Android smartphone to run on Android 6.0 Marshmallow out of the box. It is also expected to have a USB Type-C port, which wouldn't be surprising, considering the newest flagships are adding support for the newest USB standard.
However, the One M10 might not even be called the One M10 at all. Chinese website MyDrivers says the phone is also called the HTC O2. Whether this is just an internal codename for the smartphone or HTC wants to steer away from its One M branding is unclear.
As always, as with all unconfirmed reports, it is always best to take everything you read with a grain of salt.
