Materials dictate people’s first impressions of a product, and in this area the HTC 10 flagship phone literally shines. Wrapped in military-grade aluminum and finished with zirconium bead blasting for a premium feel and appearance, the new flagship is a deliberate celebration of metal.

 

Defining the design is the 10’s immediately recognizable and distinctive visual feature: the 3.3mm chamfer that runs around the outer edge and gives the phone a bold new silhouette. The raw chamfer surface is then bead-blasted to create a satin finish that catches the light, but doesn’t distract the way a mirrored finish would.

 

The chamfer gesture continues into all of the 10’s small details. Buttons, camera trim, speaker openings and the USB-C port are all treated with a chamfer that complements the phone’s contour. The power button, also made of aluminum, has a purposefully defined surface texture that makes it quickly identifiable at the faintest touch.

 

The external characteristics that matter most to customers are aligned along the center axis—the headphone jack is centered on top of the phone, and the USB-C port is centered at the bottom—enabling customers to easily find those spots without having to search for them. The power button—the most important touchpoint on phones aside from the screen—features a distinctive texture that is easy to locate by feel.

 

All of those details, combined with the overall contour, create in the 10 a silhouette that gives HTC’s latest flagship a new and distinctive identity.