HTC 10 vs LG G5: Which flagship is right for you?

Should you buy the HTC 10 or LG G5?

We’re in Android flagship release season! That means that in the space of a few weeks, we’ve seen new top-of-the-range models from Samsung, HTC and LG. Sony, if you’re wondering, has historically released its handsets in summer or autumn, so we aren’t expecting a sudden arrival.

But when it comes to the HTC 10 versus LG G5, which should you pick? In this article, I’m going to break down each handset by category to help you reach an informed decision.

HTC 10 vs LG G5: Appearance

Comparing top-of-the-range smartphones on appearance is a bit of a mug’s game: at this price point, everything looks pretty stylish, and it comes down to personal preference. Both devices offer metallic unibody designs with large screens, and there’s not much between them at all.

The LG G5 is 0.1in bigger, and with a slightly lower screen-to-body ratio (70.15% vs 71.13%), but it really is a marginal difference. The HTC 10 is a fair bit thicker, however, at 9mm thick to the LG G5’s 7.3mm.

Take a look at both in store before you buy, but my guess is that you’ll reach the same conclusion I have: an admiring shrug.

Winner: Draw

HTC 10 vs LG G5: Screen

So, let’s talk screens. As mentioned above, the LG G5 has an extra 0.1in in its frame, which translates into a slightly larger viewable area but, given both handsets display at the same resolution, a slightly lower number of pixels per inch – 565ppi vs 554ppi.

That’s a negligible difference, though, and there’s plenty of debate as to whether the eye can even detect it, so we have to go a little deeper into our screen tests to reach a conclusion.

The HTC 10 is significantly brighter than the LG G5, reaching a maximum rate of 449.22cd/m2 in our tests, while the LG G5 managed just 354.05cd/m2. It also covered more of the sRGB gamut (99.8% vs 97.1%) and had a sharper level of contrast at 1793:1 compared to the LG G5’s 1621:1. All of which makes the HTC 10 the clear winner in this round.

Winner: HTC 10

HTC 10 vs LG G5: Performance and features

On paper, there is nothing between the HTC 10 and LG G5 in the performance stakes; both use the Snapdragon 820 chipset backed by 4GB of RAM. But thankfully we don’t rely on paper for our tests, trusting Geekbench 3 and GFXBench to give us an idea of handsets’ relative merits in processing and graphical output.

In both of these, the LG G5 was the winner, and by a surprising margin, given the identical specs. In Geekbench 3 single-core, the LG G5 scored 2,325 to the HTC 10’s 2,022, and there was an even greater margin when the test switched to multi-core performance, with the LG G5 scoring 5,422 to the HTC 10’s 5,091. The GFXBench scores were closer, with the LG G5 performing 3fps faster than HTC 10 in the onscreen test (28 against 31), but 2fps behind in the offscreen analysis (46 against 48).

If there were any doubt that this round was going resoundingly to LG, a look at the features tips the balance. HTC has introduced a fingerprint scanner this time, but so has LG, and at the same time LG has brought in a modular format, a first for the world of smartphones. The LG G5 lets you add in different modules, be it a smarter camera or an upgrade to the sound. That’s a killer feature, and genuinely game-changing if LG comes to offer enough modules.

Winner: LG G5

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HTC 10 vs LG G5: Price

Eyebrows were raised when the HTC 10’s RRP was revealed to be £570. It’s not that it’s not an excellent handset undeserving of the price, but more that it’s the same cost as the slightly superior and more popular Samsung Galaxy S7. A bold move for a company that has struggled for market share.

The LG G5 gets around this problem by undercutting both. You can get the LG G5 for £500 SIM-free, making it objectively the better phone on this metric.

Winner: LG G5

HTC 10 vs LG G5: Battery life

A nice easy one here. We measure battery life at the same screen brightness (170cd/m2) to ensure a level playing field, and on this one the HTC 10 wins it by a nose, clocking in 12hrs 8mins to the LG G5’s 11hrs 10mins.

However, it’s not quite as simple as that. The LG G5 also allows you to replace the battery, meaning that there’s no need to worry about the inevitable deterioration that comes from charging and recharging batteries over time. Another point to LG.

Winner: LG G5

HTC 10 vs LG G5: Camera

This one isn’t quite as straightforward as it seems. The HTC 10 is a brilliant camera out of the box, and edges it in terms of raw performance, but there are two advantages the LG G5 has. The first is one of the add-ons for the modular phone, the CAM Plus, which adds a comfortable grip and DSLR-style controls to the camera. We haven’t had one in for test, so can’t comment on how much it adds, but is almost certainly worth considering for serious photography fans.

The second is that the LG G5 actually comes with two cameras on the back: one standard snapper and a 135-degree wide-angle lens, which offers a much broader view of the subject.

Neither of these things can substitute for raw quality of the camera, though, so the HTC 10 wins. Just.

Winner: HTC 10

HTC 10 vs LG G5: Verdict

So there you have it: 3-2 to the LG G5, and given it wins on price, performance and features, that seems pretty clear-cut to me. But is it the best flagship of the year? You’ll have to read how it stacks up against the Samsung Galaxy S7 to find out:

READ NEXT: Samsung Galaxy S7 vs LG G5 – which should you buy?