HTC isn’t dead yet: How promising is the new Desire 21 Pro 5G ?
For most smartphone buffs living in Europe, HTC is a relic from the past. The company pretty much scaled down its operations globally but somehow continues to hold on to its home market - Taiwan. In fact, the company has just announced the launch of its first smartphone of 2021 with the announcement of the HTC Desire 21 Pro 5G.
And as you may have guessed, the Desire 21 Pro 5G - at least for now - shall only be sold in Taiwan. This is interesting in itself because at least in India where this author lives, HTC still has an active website with links to products that people can potentially buy (although most are out of stock).
Coming back to the HTC Desire 21 Pro 5G, this is a decent mid-range smartphone that features the 5G capable Qualcomm Snapdragon 690 SoC. The phone runs Android 10 and is quite a handy phone thanks to the massive 6.7-inch (20:9) display. The display also supports 90Hz refresh rate, which is pretty much the case with most smartphones that sell in this price bracket. But as unbelievable as it may seem, this is actually the first HTC phone to feature a 90Hz panel.
As of now, the HTC Desire 21 Pro 5G is offered in a single variant that ships with 8GB of RAM and 128GB storage. And yes, the phone does get expandable storage.
The same old trick to increase the camera count
Camera buffs should be (mostly) happy with the quad-camera setup at the rear that includes a 48-megapixel primary camera, and an 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle lens. HTC has also crammed in the mostly useless 2MP+2MP macro+depth sensor combo just to increase the camera count on the spec-sheet. For selfie buffs, there is a 16-megapixel unit nestled in the ‘punch-hole’ at the top centre of the display.
The Desire 21 Pro 5G, thanks to its massive size, gets enough space inside to cram in a 5,000 mAh battery that also supports QC 4.0-based 18W fast charging. This also means that the phone is pretty heavy at 205g.
In Taiwan, the HTC Desire 20 Pro 5G will be sold for the equivalent of $420, which essentially makes it a competitor to the likes of the OnePlus Nord or even the Pixel 4a. And even if you really are an HTC fanboy outside of Taiwan, there is virtually no way you can buy it right now because HTC is mum on its plans to bring this phone to other markets.
While the Desire 20 Pro 5G is definitely not going to be a massive hit, are you still happy that the HTC brand is somehow still alive?
Source: HTC
