The HTC 10 is OFFICIAL. But how does it compare to the Samsung Galaxy S7
We've long been anticipating what HTC will do inside 2016, it's an important year for the firm, because as anyone who's been watching the market over the last few years will tell you, it hasn't been going too well for the Taiwanese manufacturer for some time now. There's no two ways about it, the last two HTC One flagships (One M8 and One M9) flopped - they simply didn't generate enough consumer interest or sales in the face of stiff competition and massive interest in rival devices from Samsung, LG, and Apple.
But perhaps “flop” is the wrong choice of words in light of HTC’s Q1 financials, which were utterly horrible. The company’s revenues dropped 64% — yep, you read that right SIXTY FOUR PERCENT — year on year off the back of terrible handset sales for the HTC One M9. It is worth noting that neither the HTC 10 or HTC VIVE are included in these results. But still: losses like this are the type that result in companies going out of business.
HTC is hoping these two products will help the company recover in 2016. That is still a pretty tall order; regaining 64% of lost revenues is a mighty task. Commenting on the results, HTC CEO, Cher Wang said: “We have been working hard to lay the groundwork over the past year, streamlining processes and optimising resources to enable us to develop the best products in the most effective way.”
So HTC needs to bring things back into the green, and it knows it, after the HTC One M9's lacklustre reception made things abundantly clear senior execs confirmed they would begin working on a new, much improved flagship. Since then, as with other floundering smartphone makers such as Sony and BlackBerry, HTC has publicly said that if things don't improve soon (ie: with its next flagship) it can kiss goodbye to its smartphone business. High stakes indeed.
So that's where the HTC 10 comes in. This is it, this is the firm's big comeback device designed to cure all the ill-feeling over the HTC One M8 and HTC One M9. The handset was officially announced in April following months of leaked details, so we knew pretty well what to expect; a slightly tweaked exterior design, but one which keeps HTC's existing aesthetic, and a serious focus on the internal hardware - pretty much everything has changed inside the HTC 10 and the firm has stuffed it full of the latest bells and whistles in order to make it as competetive as possible.
A wise move, to be sure, because 2016's market is going to be just as tough a nut to crack as ever. There is robust competiton as LG continues its upwards surge with the superb LG G5 andSamsung is back on form with the fantastic Galaxy S7 series. What's more, Huawei appears to be pulling out all the stops too and has wowed many with the Huawei P9's impressive feature-set.
HTC isn’t just doing phones this though. The company is also one of the shining lights of the burgeoning VR space with its lauded-across-the-board HTC VIVE, which is a VR headset HTC has made in conjunction with Valve. VR is poised to become the next big thing in technology. Analysts expect VR headsets to gain increasing amounts of traction in the coming months and years. And HTC will be keen to take a large share of them.
Super Data expects the VR hardware market to hit sales forecasts of $22.86 billion by 2019 and $40.26 billion by 2020, particularly as new software becomes available.
The Samsung Galaxy S7 — as well as the LG G5 — is arguably the HTC 10’s biggest rival. Samsung and HTC have been duking it out in the Android space for many moons now, but the former company has grown at an exponential rate during the past five years, while HTC has consistently struggled with sales and its overall bottomline.
Here we’ll be taking a brief look at how the HTC 10 compares to the Samsung Galaxy S7. It’s not a full comparison, though — just gross specs and hardware. Once we’ve had some proper time with the HTC 10 we’ll update this piece accordingly, comparing features, performance, USPs and overall usability.
For now, here’s a break down of the specs, hardware, and feature differences between the HTC 10 and the Galaxy S7
HTC 10 vs. Samsung Galaxy S7: Design
Samsung left the design of the Galaxy S7 alone for the most part. And this was fine; the Galaxy S6 was a beautifully designed phone. Like Apple before it, Samsung’s re-design process now appears to operate on a two-year cycle. Again, this is fine, and based on the frequency with which most users update their phones (18 months to 2 years) isn't going to ruffle anyone's feathers.
So what you get with the Galaxy S7 is a slightly refined version of the Galaxy S6. Samsung has implemented touches here and there, but for the most part the two handsets are more or less identical. It has a 5.1in QHD display, measures in at 142.4 x 69.6 x 7.9 mm, weighs 152g, and is available in four colours: Black, Gold, Silver and White. One key difference, however, is that waterproofing has returned! This is a very welcome addition, and something the HTC 10 lacks. Neither handset allows you access to the battery though.
It's a similar story with the HTC 10; there are some design tweaks, in particular the chamfered-edge surround which creates a nice smooth transition from the back panel to the edges. The device is certainly very comfortable and lightweight in the hand, and the slightly curved back panel (carried over from the previous gen) helps things even further. In terms of build quality it feels solid enough.
The HTC 10 is, once again, a unibody device honed from premium-feel metals. It features two distinctive antenna bands that divide the top and bottom of the phone. Overall the design is neat, clean and, as is often the case with HTC, very classy. It just isn't all that new from the previous two generations, although HTC has gone for a slightly more monochrome look this time.
After spending a prolonged amount of time with the HTC 10, though, I have to say my initial impressions about the handset altered. To me it doesn’t feel as solid in the hand as the Galaxy S7 or LG G5 and although this is rather subject, my girlfriend backed up my claim when I asked her opinion on the three handsets after handling each of them.
This is what she said after picking up the HTC 10: “I don’t like that one; it feels cheap and flimsy.” Also, you will 100% NEED to get a case for the HTC 10; it scuffs and scratches up almost as soon as you take it out the box. Personally, I don’t like cases. Like, at all. So this could be why I prefer the more matte styling of the G5, which is aluminium treated with some fancy stuff that ensures the outer shell is robust, tough and not always getting scuffed and scratched.
Historically, HTC has favoured capacitive keys on its phones, and although it has swtiched to Android's on-screen keys for recent models we are back to the capacitive keys with the HTC 10. Here you have two keys: back and multitasking. Like the Galaxy S7, the HTC 10 has a physical Home button which doubles, very nicely, I might add, as a fingerprint scanner for unlocking the handset and payments via Android Pay.
HTC 10 vs. Samsung Galaxy S7: Display
- Galaxy S7: 5.1in AMOLED QHD (ppi 577)
- HTC 10: 5.2in LCD 5 QHD (ppi 564)
As you can see, both displays are pretty similar in size and overall resolution. However, there are A LOT of differences between AMOLED and LCD panels. More and more firms are using AMOLED panels these days, and the reasons for this are myriad.
The Galaxy S7 has one of the best displays ever. Period. You can read our detailed look at why that is the case here — A Closer Look At The Galaxy S7’s Amazing Display. At this juncture in time, it is too early to say which is best — we’ll only know once we’ve tested the HTC 10 properly.
However, it is worth noting that AMOLED panels have generally outperformed LCD ones across the board for the last couple of years, so I cannot see Samsung losing this one in the long run.
HTC 10 vs. Samsung Galaxy S7: Performance
As is always the case, we’ve put both the Galaxy S7 and HTC 10 through a raft of benchmarking suites in order to extrapolate some data about how the two handset compare in an empirical, scientific manner.
Benchmarks are a great test for overall performance, but aren’t the final word in real-world experience; they’re just an interesting tool to show, on paper, how two very similar phones compare. In real-world settings, the difference will likely be negligible. Android phones in 2016 are immensely powerful when you consider what most people use them for.
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