HTC 10 is not yet available for purchase; however, the phone has been causing waves in the smartphone industry thanks to HTC’s efforts of restoring its lost glory with this 2016 flagship.
Spec-wise, it cannot be doubted that the HTC 10 is a competitor in the flagship niche – a niche that is well-known to be dominated by the likes of Apple and Samsung. The latter already rolled out Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge while the former only came in with a mid-range iPhone SE. But this is something to do with flagships and the last time Apple came in with one was back on 2015 – the iPhone 6S.
Hardware and software
Both the iPhone 6S and HTC 10 have great designs, however, the latter seems to be one up against the latter when it comes to the display quality. The HTC 10 has 5.2-inches as opposed to the 4.7 inches on the iPhone 6S, however, you will get better screen resolution on the larger screen as opposed to the smaller one. The Super LCD 5 QHD display on the HTC 10 is not as bright as the iPhone 6S, but you won’t be disappointed with the quality of color accuracy and viewing angles on offer.
Under the hood, the iPhone 6S packs a dual-core 64-bit A9 chipset clocked at a speed of 1.85GHz as compared to the quad-core 64-bit Snapdragon 820 SoC clocked at 2.2GHz that comes with the HTC 10. As far as the RAM is concerned, the Android device has 4GB while Apple’s phone carries 2GB RAM. Despite less RAM on the iPhone 6S, you will still enjoy great performance from this device, with the difference unnoticeable when head-to-head with the 10.
HTC 10 offers 32GB of storage, but there is a rumored 64GB variant that will not be coming to the U.S. The good thing is that there is room for adding a microSD card. This is not the case with the iPhone 6S, but at least you can get more storage options of 16GB, 64GB, and 128GB.
The HTC 10 also comes with re-imagined BoomSound technology, this time featuring one front-facing speaker at the top of the phone right next to the earpiece and another down-facing one, which appears to be positioned similarly to the iPhone 6S’. You will enjoy better and clear sound from the HTC 10 speakers as compared to what you get with the iPhone 6S.
After featuring it on the HTC One A9, the Taiwanese company has finally made the fingerprint sensor available on its line of flagships. Apple users have been using the Touch ID for years now after it made its debut with iPhone 5S.
As far as software is concerned, the HTC 10 is obviously powered by Android while the iPhone 6S uses iOS. However, if you are looking for a Nexus replacement that will make you not stray too much away from the stock Android experience, the HTC 10 is your best bet. The debate between the superiority of Android and iOS is never ending. But one thing we all should agree on is that both platforms are now mature, with almost every aspect having been taken care of – be it solid app ecosystems, built-in assistants, a whole world of settings, notifications, and so much stuff.
While Android smartphone manufacturers have the habit of heavily messing around with the stock Android OS, HTC has done everything to reduce this unwelcoming trend. Apple’s iPhone 6S, on the other hand, takes pride in the company’s in-house hardware and software that ensures all users enjoy the same experience as well as receive updates at the same time.
Photography
On camera matters, you will find 12MP sensors on the rear of both phones and a similar 5MP sensor for selfies. However, HTC’s UltraPixel technology seems to be well ahead of the iSight sensor used on the iPhone 6S. It gets even better with the selfie camera of the HTC 10 as it comes with optical image stabilization, something that is only available for users of the phablet iPhone 6S Plus.
Despite the similarities in pixel count of the two phones’ sensors, their apertures are far apart, with the HTC 10 featuring f/1.8 aperture while the iPhone 6S has a f/2.2 aperture. It gets even better as the 10 has larger pixels than the 6S, which means more light enters the former than the latter. As a result, the HTC 10 offers better photography in low lighting conditions than iPhone 6S.
Battery and pricing
HTC 10 has a massive battery unit of 3000mAh compared to the 1715mAh installed on the iPhone 6S. On paper, the former is a lot better than the latter, however, as noted at the beginning, the 10 is not yet available on the market.
While there is support for Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 3.0 technology on the Android device, the same cannot be said of the iPhone 6S. You will also depend on USB Type-C for data transfer and charging for the HTC 10 while the iPhone 6S uses a lightning port. Both connectors are reversible.
When it comes to pricing, the HTC 10, which is currently available for preorders, will retail at $699. On the other hand, the iPhone 6S currently costs $649.