HTC Desire 10 Tipped to Launch in Q3 2016

HTC may be looking to launch an affordable version of its flagship smartphone, the HTC 10, later this year. The company is now expected to launch the Desire 10 in the third quarter, with many specifications similar to the flagship. Presumably, it will be cheaper than the HTC 10 Lifestyle, already a slightly more basic version of the HTC 10.

The HTC 10 was launched with much fanfare in April this year. Unlike previous flagships, the new HTC 10 didn’t include the ‘One’ or ‘M’ series monikers. The smartphone came with top of the line specs, and had all the makings of a competitive Android flagship (read our first impressions here), but it didn’t manage to garner as much attention as HTC would’ve hoped. The smartphone’s sales are way below the expectation limit, and is pegged to be at around a million units by the end of the year, according to TrendForce In order to ease this slump in sales, HTC may be launching the affordable Desire 10 variant by the end of third quarter (presumably September).

Tipster Evan Blass in a series of tweets suggested that HTC is working on the Desire 10 smartphone, and revealed its Q3 2016 launch time-frame. When prompted for more details, he also shared an image of a rear camera module that’s presumably of the Desire 10. It looks similar to the rear camera on the HTC 10, with laser autofocus and dual-LED flash visible.

To recall, the HTC 10 sports a 12-UltraPixel laser autofocus camera with dual tone LED flash, BSI sensor and optical image stabilisation (OIS). The rear camera has the new generation UltraPixels camera with 1.55-micron pixels. It also includes other features like self-timer (up to 10 seconds), face detection, RAW format support, Auto HDR, and Hyperlapse. It also comes with Slow motion video with support for 720P at 120fps.

The Desire 10, presumably, will have many other HTC 10 identical features, apart from its metal build. It will be much affordable than the flagship, and will sport a plastic exterior. In India, the company launched the HTC 10 for Rs. 52, 990 (4GB of RAM and 32GB storage option) in May.