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HTC quietly launches a sub-$100 smartphone with a lot of compromises

HTC Wildfire E5 Plus
HTC

The HTC Wildfire E5 Plus quietly entered the market, and it’s available for roughly $95. Of course, a phone that inexpensive comes with a number of compromises. It’s not a powerhouse, but the Wildfire E5 Plus gets the job done—and well—for someone shopping on a budget. Unfortunately, it’s only available in a few limited places at the moment, and there are no details on a global release.

The Wildfire E5 Plus has a sleek, more modern appearance that would look right at home alongside most flagships. A few telltale details, like the larger camera bumps and thicker bezels, are the only indicators that it’s a lower-end phone. The 6.75-inch display has an impressive 90Hz refresh rate but only supports a resolution of 720p.

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The phone is powered by a  Unisoc T606 chipset. While it was a solid chip at one time, the T606 is relatively underpowered now compared to other, more popular options on the market, like the Snapdragon 8 Elite. It has 6GB of RAM — and that means it has little to no AI functionality — alongside 128GB of internal storage, but this can be expanded through a microSD card.

HTC Wildfire E5 Plus
Image used with permission by copyright holder

The Wildfire E5 Plus has a 50MP main camera, a 2MP depth sensor, and a 16MP selfie camera on the front.

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One area where the Wildfire E5 Plus does stand out is its battery. With a 5,000mAh capacity, its battery is larger than any found in Samsung’s current flagship lineup and on par with the Galaxy S25 Ultra. However, given the lower power demands of the E5 Plus, it will likely last a great deal longer.

The phone runs on Android 14 and is currently available in Vietnam for the equivalent of around $93. Like we said earlier, HTC hasn’t given details on a global rollout yet.

Patrick Hearn
Patrick Hearn writes about smart home technology like Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, smart light bulbs, and more. If it's a…
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