My favourite retro HTC telephone marks the tip of an period

There are a selection of fantastic smartphones that have won over my heart all through the years, however one handset specifically stands above the remaining: the HTC 10 from 2016. Launched onto the market as a premium flagship providing, the HTC 10 primarily duked it out with Samsung’s Galaxy S7, LG’s G5, and Apple’s iPhone 6S and iPhone 7 fashions. Whereas these latter telephones stay well-known to at the present time, HTC’s 10 has seemingly pale from the general public consciousness, which I believe is a disgrace.

In some ways, the HTC 10 may be greatest described because the penultimate HTC smartphone. Whereas retaining a lot of the forward-thinking DNA of its legendary HTC One (m7) and One (m8) forebears, it vaulted the Taoyuan, Taiwan-based firm again into the aggressive highlight after a lackluster predecessor within the HTC One (m9) the yr prior.

With the ten, HTC got here weapons blazing: the telephone included all of the high-end specs accessible for the time, a refined software program expertise that revered the person, and an exterior {hardware} bundle that appears each bit as good-looking right now because it did almost a decade in the past. Rather a lot has modified within the shopper electronics trade within the years since, and regardless of HTC’s retreat from the flagship device space, its 10 stands as a testomony to timeless phone-making experience.

They do not make smartphones like they used to

The HTC 10 is every little thing the fashionable telephone trade is not

When selecting up the HTC 10 in 2025, it is instantly obvious that the product is a relic of a bygone period. That is to not say the telephone feels antiquated — on the contrary, it evokes a way of modernism regardless of its chunky bezels, its bodily navigation keys, and its single rear-facing digicam module. Externally, the ten holds up superbly. Its rounded, unibody steel construct, its weighted mass, and its distinctive beveled edge all come collectively in a satisfying method that makes the machine feel and look extremely luxurious.

Philosophically, the HTC 10 is the literal antithesis of recent high-end telephone design. Apart from the apparent lack of a glass rear panel, the telephone provides now-extinct niceties like a microSD card slot, a notification LED blinker, a high-quality headphone jack with customized DAC and amplifier tech, a selfie digicam with optical picture stabilization, and a capacitive fingerprint sensor. I recognize the smaller measurement of the machine (its 5.2-inch display appeared huge for the time, however feels compact on reflection), and the clicky, ribbed energy button remains to be probably the most satisfying button I’ve ever pressed on a telephone.

That is to not say that the ten was good: for its time, the machine lacked just a few options that had been changing into more and more commonplace amongst competing flagships. This features a extra strong IP water and dust resistance ranking, an always-on OLED show, and Qi wireless charging. Then again, the ten supplied speedier 5 Gbps USB-C switch speeds, extra environment friendly Qualcomm Fast Cost 3.0 charging tech, and stereo audio system earlier than these all grew to become customary trade fare.

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HTC Sense was one of the best pores and skin within the recreation

On the time, it made Sense to complement the Android expertise with an overlay

In its heyday, HTC’s Sense overlay atop of Android was best-in-class. ‘Inventory’ Android from Google was nonetheless tough across the edges, and competing software skins from Samsung and LG had been bloated with out paying thoughts to the overarching person expertise. Sense was completely different — it was enticing and but restrained, it averted the pitfall of app and repair duplication we nonetheless see on modern telephones to at the present time, and it added in considerate additions like screen-tapping gestures, the BlinkFeed information curator, and an Excessive Energy Saving Mode.

The HTC 10 launched with Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow out of the field, and it was supported by way of Android 8.0 Oreo. Its Sense UI stays pleasing to at the present time, although its look has naturally fallen out of visible vogue as time has marched onward. Different Android telephone makers have since stepped up their software program recreation fairly significantly, however in my view, solely Google’s Pixel UX comes near matching the interface craftsmanship of 2016-era HTC Sense.

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The HTC 10 is the head of pre-modern telephone design

HTC’s ‘Quietly Sensible’ design ethos was as soon as an unequalled power

At a time when Samsung, LG, and others had been trekking in a single path, HTC was doubling down on the fundamentals with the ten. The telephone mastered all of the necessities, and it supplied an end-user expertise that I believe again on fondly. I miss the times of strong, industrial-feeling steel telephones, and I miss the times of microSD playing cards and high-quality headphone jacks, too.

HTC went on to launch the U11 in 2017, adopted by the U12 Extremely the yr after. These gadgets, which might find yourself being the ultimate flagship HTC choices on a aggressive scale, would succumb to numerous trade pressures. These U-series merchandise would take away the headphone jack, axe the steel unibody, and lean into gimmicky additions like a squeezable body and a long-forgotten AI Sense Companion function.

A lot of HTC’s phone-making expertise was bought out by Google in 2017, making the fashionable Pixel collection a kind of successor line to a point. Early Pixels, together with the first-generation mannequin, had been in truth constructed by HTC. Even with its lowered trade prominence in 2025, I might like to see a real religious successor to the ten make its method onto retailer cabinets. In a sea of bezel-less glass sandwiches, HTC has a possibility to make steel, wired audio, expandable storage, and even its Sense overlay cool once more. Whilst you’re at it, why not deliver again the HTC One’s iconic front-firing audio system, too, HTC?

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