HTC will hold product presentations in Taipei, New York and London on April 12. The vendor is expected to unveil its new flagship model for 2016, likely named HTC M10, during the event.

The release of the HTC M10 will be crucial for HTC as sales of the new flagship will serve as an indicator on whether the Taiwan-based smartphone vendor will be able to make a turnaround in its declining smartphone business, according to industry sources.

The company posted a negative EPS of NT$0.48 for the first two months of 2016, and is expected to operate in red for the first quarter, the sources indicated.

Brisk sales of the M10 and the planned release of its first virtual reality device, the Vive, may help HTC swing back to profitability in the second quarter, commented the sources.

The M10 is likely to come with a 5.2-inch display, 12-megapixel main camera and uni-body design, and start with a minimum storage capacity of 32GB, indicated the sources.