HTC phone hopes to rival iPhone, Galaxy

Taiwan's HTC hopes its new smartphone will take on its rivals, the iPhone and Samsung's Galaxy S7.

The HTC 10.

Taiwan's HTC hopes its new smartphone will take on its rivals, the iPhone and Samsung's Galaxy S7. (AAP)

HTC has unveiled its latest flagship smartphone, the HTC 10, which it hopes will rival the iPhone and Samsung Galaxy S7 thanks to a new camera and the inclusion of high resolution audio features.

The HTC 10 - the successor to the firm's M9 that was released in 2015 - had been heavily rumoured online for some time, with the Taiwanese firm claiming it has been working on the phone "behind closed doors for 12 months".

The new device comes with a 12-megapixel rear camera that includes optical image stabilisation (OIS) technology designed to take better photos even when the hand holding it is shaking. It can also record video in 4K resolution.

These are similar specifications to one of its perceived rivals, the iPhone 6s Plus, which launched in September.

The HTC 10 also has a larger aperture in the lens on the front-facing camera, which HTC says lets in more light and will take better "selfies". The battery can also last for up to two days, the firm claims.

The HTC 10 arrives as the Taiwanese firm continues to struggle in the smartphone market - both its high profile launches last year, the M9 and A9, failed to sell as well as the company had hoped, leading to 15% staff cuts in August.

However, the firm's other ventures, most notably the HTC Vive headset, have been met with early acclaim and positive sales.

The HTC 10 also supports high-resolution audio, which is clearer than standard sound, and the new phone will come with a set of high resolution audio earphones in the box, while the phone will also be capable of up-scaling a user's existing songs into high resolution.

HTC says it has also worked with Google to "reboot" the Android operating system that runs on the device. The number of native apps has been reduced, while more have been integrated together to make the phone faster, creating what HTC is calling the "best of Google and HTC".


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Source: AAP



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