The smartphone market has been lost by HTC. That’s a fact. Despite loud statements about the release of updated versions of HTC Desire with blockchain support. Short-sightedness of management (or maybe greed) led to the loss of positions in the TOP 10, and then in the TOP 100 best mobile devices in the world. Switching to manufacturing spare parts and household appliances, the company apparently had some plans for revival. The announced budget tablet HTC A101 confirms this.
The right direction. After all, no one will buy a flagship with a high price tag from an unknown brand. Exactly, unknown. Young people don’t know who HTC is. They are familiar with completely different brands.
Similarly, Nokia and Motorola started their comeback from the ground up. HTC also has a chance to regain its former glory. After all, in the early 2000s, Hitch Technologies (HTC) produced the best pocket computers (Pocket PC) in the world. And it lost the market disgracefully over 10 years. Simply because it did not want to develop.
What to Expect from the Budget HTC A101 Tablet
The mobile device is aimed at developing markets. That is, generally, at people around the world who are limited in finances. The HTC A101 tablet is built on the Unisoc T618 chip, released in 2019. It is an 8-core chip on a 12-nanometer process. It has 2 Cortex-A75 cores at 2000 MHz and 6 Cortex-A55 cores at 1800 MHz. The graphics core is ARM Mali-G52 MP2. The chip features support for LPDDR4X memory modules on a 16-bit bus. Plus, there is the possibility to install eMMC 5.1 solid-state drives. Compared to Snapdragon chips, its performance is similar to Snapdragon 662.
To attract the buyer’s attention, the HTC A101 tablet has 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage. Support for Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi ac, and LTE is declared. There is a 3.5 mm headphone jack. The battery capacity is 7000 mAh.
The low price is achieved thanks to an inexpensive 10-inch display with a TN matrix and Full HD resolution. The camera quality leaves much to be desired. The main module is 16 MP, and the selfie camera is 2 MP. Moreover, the manufacturer does not emphasize these in the presentation. Apparently, the quality is low. The HTC A101 tablet will run on Android 11. It’s interesting whether updates will be as poor as with smartphones. I remember there was such a HTC U11 with an underdeveloped firmware that the manufacturer promised to fix. But deceived customers.
As for the price and sales platforms for the mobile device, it is still unclear. The price of the HTC A101 tablet should be less than $200. Otherwise, buyers will simply prefer budget solutions from Xiaomi, Huawei, Blackview, or Realme.