Early impressions of HTC’s new flagship, the HTC 10, are already beginning to hit the internet, along with more than enough hands on videos and comparisons to tell most consumers if it’s a phone they should consider. While all eyes were on the HTC 10, however, a variant called the HTC 10 Lifestyle popped up, packing a slightly lesser Qualcomm 652 processor. The Lifestyle was meant to be available in countries like India and China that didn’t get the main flagship. In India, the regular HTC 10 is now showing as being available. In China, however, HTC has decided to take a rather unusual approach and crowdfund the HTC 10 Lifestyle to gauge interest. It hit JD Finance with a goal of 500,000 Yuan not long ago. As of this writing, that goal has been utterly shattered, with the crowdfunding effort bringing in over 600,000 Yuan with over 15 days left in the campaign.
Since the Lifestyle is meant to be a cheaper option that its flagship, Snapdragon 820 bearing cousin, it uses the lower-cost Snapdragon 652 processor and only 3GB of RAM as opposed to the 4GB present in the mainline HTC 10. Previous reports said that this variant would only have 32GB of internal storage, but promotional images on JD Finance seem to indicate that a 64Gb variant will be available. Beyond these changes, however, the specs are pretty much the same; It has the same Quad HD LCD screen at 5.2 inches, same 3,000mAh battery, same sound systems and same camera setup, complete with all of the same features. This mid-range variant should provide a largely similar experience to its flagship cousin, with just a little less oomph on more intensive or next-gen tasks such as high-end gaming.
On JD Finance, there are multiple tiers and options for would-be donors to choose from. 1 Yuan gets unlimited supporters entries to win an HTC RE Camera, whereas 5 Yuan gets you an entry to win the phone being funded. 3,300 Yuan will net you the phone for sure, along with an Ice View case and a quick charger, but only 134 spots are left at that level as of this writing. With 100 total spots and none taken yet, 4,400 Yuan will get you the phone and a 3,000 Yuan car voucher. The 9,400 Yuan spot is all sold out, but 5 lucky backers walked away with an HTC 10 Lifestyle and HTC Vive. Fans can also donate without asking for anything in return.