The purported HTC Bolt has just leaked in the wild and it seems that HTC is following Apple's lead and removing the headphone jack from the equation.
The HTC Bolt has been rumored for a while now and recent leaks hinted at a good midranger, but the latest reveal may put off some prospective customers. Apple fans were not exactly pleased with the iPhone 7's lack of a headphone jack and some even drilled holes into their iPhones. Will a midrange HTC device be able to pull it off?
The latest images come from VentureBeat's Evan Blass and show the device in the wild, revealing the physical phone and not a rendered version. This is the first time the HTC Bolt surfaces in the wild and the images show that it sports a similar design to the HTC 10 flagship, sporting an all-metal design that makes it look premium although it will target the midrange segment of the smartphone market.
Blass previously leaked an HTC Bolt image back in September and the latest images show the same design, albeit with more details and from more angles. The absence of a headphone jack is the most notable detail, but Blass also shares some tidbits of information regarding the smartphone's specs.
According to the tipster, the HTC Bolt will feature a 5.5-inch full HD display, slightly larger than the HTC 10. The handset will reportedly pack 3 GB of RAM, 64 GB of native storage space, a microSD card slot and an 18-megapixel main camera, trumping the HTC 10's 12-megapixel shooter.
An earlier leak also revealed that the HTC Bolt will run Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box, reskinned with HTC Sense on top, and Blass' latest leak echoes the previous one.
The HTC Bolt is reportedly headed to Sprint in the United States, albeit it remains unclear whether it will be an exclusive or not. The smartphone will also go on sale globally.
No additional information is available regarding the purported HTC Bolt at this point, but the smartphone is expected to come as the successor of the older HTC Thunderbolt from 2011, which launched as a Verizon exclusive.
It remains to be seen when the HTC Bolt will make its official debut and whether it will attract customers if it doesn't have a headphone jack. HTC is still trying to make a comeback after losing ground to rivals on the smartphone market, but borrowing Apple's most disputed iPhone 7 change may not yield the best results.
HTC is also behind the new Google Pixel and Pixel XL premium smartphones, but they don't bear the HTC branding.
Would you be interested in the HTC Bolt if it doesn't have a headphone jack? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.
