Lava launches HTC Wildfire X in India with MediaTek Helio P22 for ₹9,999 ($140)

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HTC had been looking to reboot its long-dead Wildfire series with new releases this year. We recently reported about the HTC Wildfire X making an appearance in the Google Play Console Device Catalog and the Android Enterprise Recommended website, complete with its MediaTek Helio P22 MT6762 SoC and HD+ display. HTC has now officially launched the Wildfire X in India as a Flipkart-exclusive, but there’s a catch — this isn’t the very same HTC that we have known and loved, but just the brand which has been licensed to InOne Smart Technology, also known in India for their Lava-branded smartphones.

Lava International Ltd. was one of India’s domestic players, competing in the high days before the entry of Chinese players like Xiaomi in the budget and early mid-range segments. We do not know what happened to Lava International Ltd., but we do know that the Lava branding now comes under InOne Smart Technology, a division within InOne Group which is based in China. InOne Group’s India office has the same address as Lava International’s Indian office, so there’s definitely a juristic and corporate relationship here. What we do know is that HTC was looking to license its smartphone branding to players like Micromax, Karbonn or Lava, and the new HTC Wildfire X is being launched by InOne Smart Technology in India as per their press release, essentially creating a branding relationship between Lava and HTC.

InOne’s (or Lava’s) HTC Wildfire X comes with a 6.22″ HD+ (1520 x 720) IPS LCD with a waterdrop notch for the camera. The phone bears dimensions 156.7 mm x 74.9 mm x 7.95 mm. The press release for the phone skips out on specifying the SoC inside the phone, but we do know from previous coverage that the Wildfire X comes with the MediaTek Helio P22 (MT6762) SoC. The phone comes in RAM (DDR4X) and storage options of 3GB + 32GB or 4GB + 128GB. If you opt for the base model with a paltry 32GB internal storage, you still have the option of expanding the memory through the hybrid microSD card slot. The phone is powered by a 3,300 mAh battery “with AI technology“, with support for 10W charging only through the USB Type-C port. Thankfully, the phone launches with Android 9 Pie and comes with a headphone jack.

As far as cameras are concerned, the phone interestingly comes with a triple rear camera setup involving a 12MP, 1.25μm main sensor, an 8MP sensor for 2x optical zoom and a 5MP depth sensor. The front camera is an 8MP shooter.

The InOne HTC Wildfire X will be a Flipkart exclusive and will be available for purchase from August 22, 2019. The device will cost ₹9,999 ($140) for the 3GB/32GB variant and ₹12,999 ($183) for the 4GB/128GB variant. One of the other features that stood out was the fact that InOne is offering a six months no-questions-asked accidental and liquid damage protection, along with complimentary pickup and drop facility, alongside the concurrent 1-year warranty.

The HTC Wildfire X, as it is launched in 2019 by HTC’s official licensee in India, InOne Smart Technology, is a product that is difficult to recommend. The phone and its existence go on to show why exactly Chinese OEMs flourished in the Indian market at the cost of domestic Indian players because domestic players are often far out of touch with their own market. The base variant of the Wildfire X directly competes against the base variant of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 7S which comes with a much more powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 processor, a bigger 4000 mAh battery with Quick Charge 4 support, a 48MP rear camera, an FHD+ display, as well as Xiaomi’s after-sales infrastructure and brand goodwill in India. The only advantage the Wildfire X has is its 2x optical zoom camera, the practical utility of which remains arguable. The HTC/Lava/InOne Wildfire X is, sadly, dead on arrival.