The HTC 10 won us over earlier this year with its impressive display, stylish design, and blistering performance, earning itself a high score in our review. But there have been indications that the device hasn"t won the affections of buyers in the same way - T-Mobile, for example, dropped the HTC 10 from its range just two months after its launch.
But while there are no indications that the 10 is going away anytime soon, it looks like a new variant is on the way: the HTC Bolt.
Serial leakster Evan Blass posted an image of the device on Twitter, showing a strong resemblance to the HTC 10 flagship. It does differ in some design aspects though; the rear flash and front-facing camera on the Bolt have both been repositioned compared with the 10, and the location of the SIM tray is also slightly different (the newer device may also have dual-SIM support).
But more significantly, it seems the new HTC handset will follow Apple"s new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus in ditching the dedicated 3.5mm headphone jack; on the Bolt, buyers will have to rely solely on the device"s USB Type-C port.
There"s plenty that we still don"t know about the Bolt, including whether or not the rest of its specs will be the same as the HTC 10. The device appears to be destined for Sprint, but it"s unclear if other US carriers will also offer it. Blass" tweet referred to the device "in silver", but we don"t yet know if other color options will be available, or what they might be.
The October 18 date shown on the render might be a clue as to when the Bolt will be announced, but before then, on October 4, HTC will launch two new flagship-class handsets, although they may not carry HTC branding. The Pixel and Pixel XL will replace last year"s Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P as Google"s "showcase" Android devices.