Leaked renders reveal HTC 10 for the first time

HTC's prettiest handset yet? Photo: Evan Blass

HTC’s prettiest handset yet? Photo: Evan Blass

HTC’s next-generation flagship will be its prettiest yet if the leaked render above is an accurate representation of its final form.

The so-called HTC 10 sports 2.5D curved glass atop a near edge-to-edge display, generously chamfered edges, and a front-facing fingerprint scanner. But boy, does it look thick.

HTC may struggle to compete with rivals like Apple and Samsung, but the Taiwanese company has a history of producing attractive smartphones made out of premium materials. The HTC 10 (the “One” is said to have been dropped from the name) is no different.

At first glance, the back of the device looks like the back of a One M8 that’s been chiseled down the edges. We don’t quite know why HTC thought sharper, chamfered edges were nicer than soft curves, but they certainly don’t look bad here.

The front of the HTC 10 are where things get really interesting. Gone is the HTC logo that once sat in a large bezel beneath the display, and in comes curved glass, a physical home button with fingerprint scanner, and impressively slim bezels all-round.

HTC has also done away with the black plastic strip that sat on the top edge of previous One series smartphones and replaced it with a silver strip that blends into the aluminum unibody. There’s also a headphone jack on that top edge, and a USB-C connector on the bottom.

HTC also appears to have streamlined its Sense user interface, which looks a lot cleaner and simpler here. But it’s not all good news.

The HTC 10 appears to have lost the BoomSound speakers that One-series fans have enjoyed for years, and now has just one speaker located on its bottom edge. And it’s not like this move has helped make the HTC 10 any slimmer; it looks pretty hefty in this photo.

We would normally recommend that you take renders like this one with a pinch of salt, because they could quite easily be fakes. But this one comes from the incredibly reliable Evan Blass (@evleaks), so we have no reason to doubt its authenticity.

But just in case you need more, here are some pictures of the HTC 10 out in the wild, carrying the very same design but painted black, from @OnLeaks.

These photos clearly don't do the HTC 10 justice. Photo: OnLeaks

These photos clearly don’t do the HTC 10 justice. Photo: OnLeaks

According to the specifications that accompanied the photos above, the HTC 10 — or at least this prototype version of it — packs a 5.15-inch Quad HD display, a Snapdragon 820 processor, 4GB of RAM, and a 12-megapixel rear-facing camera.

The HTC 10 is expected to make its official debut within the coming months. The render above suggests it will happen on April 19 in New York City.