My favourite retro HTC cellphone marks the top of an period

There are a selection of wonderful 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 today, HTC’s 10 has seemingly pale from the general public consciousness, which I feel is a disgrace.

In some ways, the HTC 10 may be finest 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 cellphone included all of the high-end specs accessible for the time, a refined software program expertise that revered the consumer, and an exterior {hardware} bundle that appears each bit as good-looking at the moment because it did almost a decade in the past. Lots has modified within the client electronics business 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 the whole lot the fashionable cellphone business is not

When choosing 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 cellphone 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 means that makes the machine feel and look extremely luxurious.

Philosophically, the HTC 10 is the literal antithesis of recent high-end cellphone design. Other than the apparent lack of a glass rear panel, the cellphone gives 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 admire the smaller dimension of the machine (its 5.2-inch display screen appeared massive for the time, however feels compact on reflection), and the clicky, ribbed energy button remains to be essentially the most satisfying button I’ve ever pressed on a cellphone.

That is to not say that the ten was good: for its time, the machine lacked a couple of 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. Alternatively, 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 turned commonplace business fare.

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HTC Sense was the most effective pores and skin within the sport

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 consumer expertise. Sense was completely different — it was engaging and but restrained, it prevented the pitfall of app and repair duplication we nonetheless see on modern telephones to today, 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 Android 8.0 Oreo. Its Sense UI stays pleasing to today, although its look has naturally fallen out of visible trend as time has marched onward. Different Android cellphone makers have since stepped up their software program sport fairly significantly, however for my part, 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 cellphone design

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

At a time when Samsung, LG, and others had been trekking in a single route, HTC was doubling down on the fundamentals with the ten. The cellphone mastered all of the necessities, and it supplied an end-user expertise that I feel again on fondly. I miss the times of stable, 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 business 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 characteristic.

A lot of HTC’s phone-making expertise was bought out by Google in 2017, making the fashionable Pixel sequence a kind of successor line to some extent. Early Pixels, together with the first-generation mannequin, had been in truth constructed by HTC. Even with its lowered business prominence in 2025, I might like to see a real non secular successor to the ten make its means 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. When you’re at it, why not carry again the HTC One’s iconic front-firing audio system, too, HTC?

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