Mobile Technology

iPhone 7 vs. HTC 10

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New Atlas compares the features and specs of the iPhone 7 (left) and HTC 10
3D Touch
Camera aperture (rear)
Battery
Build
Camera megapixels
Capacitive home button
Color options
Processor
Dimensions
Display resolution
Display size
Display type
Dual camera (rear)
Fast charging
Fingerprint sensor
Headphone jack
New Atlas compares the features and specs of the iPhone 7 (left) and HTC 10
HiFi audio
MicroSD
Mobile payments
Optical Image Stabilization
Starting price (full retail)
Release
Software
Storage
Water resistance
Weight
Wireless charging
RAM
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HTC's phones have been a little hit-or-miss through the last few years, but the company's early 2016 flagship, the HTC 10, unquestionably falls on the right side of that dichotomy. Well, at least on a critical level; the phone doesn't exactly appear to be breaking any sales records. Let's see how the 10 sizes up next to a handset that just might sell okay, the Apple iPhone 7.

Size

Dimensions

The HTC 10 isn't a huge phone, but it still has some stature next to the iPhone 7. HTC's handset comes out 6 percent taller and 7 percent wider.

Weight

Weight

The iPhone also hits the scales at 14 percent lighter.

Build

Build

Of the many, many flagships with aluminum unibody designs, you could argue these two are the best-looking.

Water resistance

Water resistance

The iPhone can soak in water (up to 1 m/3.3 ft) without going kaput.

Colors

Color options

Remember back when smartphones were all black? Yeah, things are different now.

Display size

Display size

If you want a bigger iPhone than this, you can go with the 5.5-inch iPhone 7 Plus. But looking at only these two, the HTC 10's screen is 22 percent bigger.

Display resolution

Display resolution

The HTC 10 has a very nice QHD display that's 73 percent sharper than the iPhone's.

But don't get too carried away with numbers like this: Apple puts plenty of TLC into details like white balance, color accuracy, brightness and saturation to help iPhones transcend pixel density arms races.

Display type

Display type

The HTC 10 is the rare Android phone with an IPS display.

3D Touch

3D Touch

You don't get any pressure-sensitive display shortcuts on the HTC 10.

Camera megapixels

Camera megapixels

The HTC 10 had one of the two best smartphone cameras of early 2016, but it's possible the iPhone's will overtake it. Stay tuned.

Camera aperture (rear)

Camera aperture (rear)

Aperture, which can help out with low-lit photography, is tied up.

OIS

Optical Image Stabilization

Both phones' rear cameras have Optical Image Stabilization onboard, but the HTC 10 does one better by putting OIS in its front-facing shooter.

Dual rear camera

Dual camera (rear)

This is one of the features Apple is using to tempt you to pay more for the bigger iPhone 7 Plus. This standard iPhone 7 misses out on the former's dual/telephoto camera.

Battery

Battery

The HTC 10 has a 53 percent bigger battery, and it did test pretty well in our review. But it would be far too simplistic to take this as an indication of actual battery life: The HTC 10's higher-res display, for example, is going to suck up more power. We'll have some hard numbers to compare before long, in our iPhone review.

Fast charging

Fast charging

No matter what the iPhone's battery life looks like, it won't charge nearly as quickly as the HTC 10 (and just about every recent Android flagship) will.

Wireless charging

Wireless charging

Unlike Samsung's recent high-end Galaxies, neither of these have wireless charging tech.

Processor

Processor

The iPhone's A10 Fusion chip benchmarks notably higher than the HTC 10's Qualcomm processor, but you're unlikely to run across much that truly taxes either phone.

RAM

RAM

The HTC 10 doubles the RAM of this 4.7-inch iPhone 7.

Storage

Storage

Apple finally strolled into the modern era and dropped the absurd 16 GB minimum storage option from this year's iPhones.

MicroSD

MicroSD

The HTC 10 has a more flexible approach to storage, letting you pop in a microSD to complement its internal memory.

Hi-Fi audio

HiFi audio

If you use a pair of wired headphones with the HTC 10, and have sufficiently high-res music files, you can get one of the best audio experiences of any smartphones – courtesy of its built-in 24-bit DAC and headphone amp.

The iPhone has a DAC too, but it's only used for speaker audio.

Headphone jack

Headphone jack

Apple dropped the 3.5-mm headphone jack from its phones this year, continuing a long history of outraging people (and perhaps pushing things forward) by putting hardware features on the chopping block.

Fingerprint sensor

Fingerprint sensor

Both phones have fingerprint sensor home buttons.

Capacitive home button

Capacitive home button

Both home buttons are non-moving capacitive types, but they feel very different. HTC's is more like capacitive buttons that have been on Android phones for years, using a standard vibration for feedback. Apple's is closer to the Force Touch trackpads on its latest MacBooks: using the company's "Taptic Engine" to give it a real "click" feel.

Mobile payments

Mobile payments

Both phones support the two platforms' respective NFC payment services: Apple Pay and Android Pay.

Software

Software

It's iOS 10 vs. Android Marshmallow. The 10 has HTC's Sense UI laid on top of Google's software, but we find it to be one of the subtler and more tasteful of Android overlays.

Release

Release

The HTC 10 launched over four months ago, while the iPhone just hit store shelves.

Starting price (full retail)

Starting price (full retail)

Pricing is similar, though you can currently snag the HTC 10 for a discounted US$599 straight from HTC's US online store.

For a closer look at each phone, you can hit up our reviews of the iPhone 7 and HTC 10.

Correction: The original version of this comparison listed 3 GB of RAM listed for the iPhone 7, instead of its actual 2 GB. We regret the error.

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3 comments
StWils
No Water Resistance is No Good At Any Price. In the real world small things like phones & phablets will get wet. Also, I would like to see a small bit of hardware on a corner to permit attaching a light weight lanyard. Cases & padding is nice but even a small hand-sized loop or lanyard will greatly limit dropping as well as limit losing a phone.
DomainRider
HTC 10 is IP53 rated, meaning spray resistant but not fully splash resistant. In practice it's unlikely to be a problem unless you're a boating type or live in a monsoon climate.
FredBrown
Yes the HTC 10 is water resistant, for rain, showers etc... I don't really understand the importance of a phone being submergable lol, it's not like they can take under water photos, and the only scenario I can think waterproofing would be useful is if you dropped it in a pool, because if you drop it in a lake or ocean chances are you'll never find it anyways, not to mention the water will probably be deeper than what it's rated for. The HTC may not be as water resistant as the iPhone, but considering "REAL WORLD SMALL THINGS" the HTC 10 does offer FREE protection for ANY worst case scenario, so considering your FAR more likely to drop your phone and break it, rather than dropping it in a pool, the free protection is FAR more useful than better water resistance. You drop your iPhone chances are your wither going to be walking about with a shattered display, or paying apple a bunch of money to repair or replace it, even with insurance through your provider would require you to pay a couple hundred dollars.... The iPhone has been copying HTC for years. The iPhone 6 copied HTC's all metal body, antenna bands, kind slender shape, and rounded edges. The iPhone 6s copied HTC's 5MP front camera, live photos, and 1080p video recording (front camera). Now the iPhone 7 has copied HTC's dual rear camera, opted for larger pixels over higher resolution, dual speakers etc...