The mysterious HTC Bolt continues to elude the market, but apparently, this leaves room for more leaks and rumors to emerge in regards to the handset’s capabilities and whereabouts. Last week the HTC Bolt was spotted in a couple of live leaked pictures showcasing a metal unibody design similar to the HTC 10, and previous rumors have hinted at the possibility that the HTC Bolt will be a high-end spiritual successor of the original HTC Thunderbolt released a few years ago. However, according to a new report from custom ROM developer and industry insider LlabTooFeR, the HTC Bolt, codename “Acadia”, will employ a one-year-old System-on-Chip from Qualcomm, namely the rather controversial “MSM8994” Snapdragon 810.
Despite the fact that the HTC Bolt appears to make use of a similar design as the HTC 10, complete with a unibody metal case, apparently the Bolt will not fit in the same market segment as the aforementioned flagship device. According to the source, the HTC Bolt “Acadia” will be powered by a Snapdragon 810 SoC, which is a rather odd pick considering the said chipset’s history on the market. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 was introduced in 2014 and was first seen on a commercial device in January 2015 at the unveiling of the LG G Flex 2. Unfortunately, a few weeks later the chipset was criticized for its inadequate cooling solutions which have led to serious performance losses, and although the SoC has become a viable option after several revisions throughout the year 2015, unfortunately, it has earned a reputation for being unreliable or at least inconsistent in terms of performance. With that being said, it’s unclear why HTC could have picked the Snapdragon 810 out of all of Qualcomm’s offerings, especially since the Taiwanese smartphone maker already opted for a Snapdragon 652 for its HTC 10 Lifestyle variant. Furthermore, considering the fact that Google has stopped supporting the Snapdragon 800 and 801 chipsets, the Snapdragon 810 will likely be next in line to lose support, and thus it might no longer be a viable option for Android 8.0 and future releases.
On the other hand, LlabTooFeR adds on Twitter that the HTC Bolt will be equipped with a 5.5-inch display boasting WQHD (2560 x 1440) resolution. In theory, this would mean that the HTC Bolt will retain the screen resolution of the HTC 10, but will offer a slightly larger display and as a result, a smaller pixel density of roughly 534 pixels per inch, down from ~565 ppi. According to previous rumors, the HTC Bolt should be introduced in the United States through Sprint sometime by the end of October.