HTC might be limiting the number of smartphones it will launch next year. As per a DigiTimes report, the company will be doing so to focus more on R&D and its marketing efforts because of the losses it posted for the first three quarters in 2017. The report, citing its sources, also reveals HTC’s roadmap for 2018.
The Taiwanese manufacturer could release two new smartphones next year. The first one is speculated to be an inexpensive variant of the HTC U11+, which might launch in January next year, whereas, the second smartphone is said to be the company’s flagship, the HTC U12. According to the report, the latter is expected to be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845 platform and feature a 4K display. The device could also sport a dual rear camera setup.
The HTC U12 was also spotted online recently. The previous report reaffirms that the smartphone could feature a 4K display and adopt a dual rear camera setup, which the company's current flagship smartphone (HTC U11) doesn't have.
HTC has been struggling to make a comeback in the smartphone business. It recently entered into a mutual cooperation agreement with Google. As per the agreement some HTC employees, who were already working on Google’s Pixel smartphones, joined Google. As a part of the transaction, HTC received $1.1 billion in cash from Google and the latter separately received a non-exclusive license for HTC’s Intellectual Property (IP) rights.
HTC announced two smartphones in November, the HTC U11 Plus and the U11 Life. The former is the company’s first smartphone to sport a thin-bezel design with an 18:9 aspect ratio. It features a 6-inch IPS LCD display with a QHD+ resolution of 2880 x 1440 pixels and is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 835 SoC.
The U11 Plus comes in two variants of 4GB and 6GB RAM with options for 64GB and 128GB internal storage respectively. It sports a 12MP main camera with Ultrapixel 3 technology, f/1.7 aperture lens and dual-pixel autofocus along with an 8MP front-facing camera. The device runs on Android 8.0 Oreo out-of-the-box and supports the company's Edge Sense feature. The smartphone is is IP68 water and dust resistant and packs a 3930mAh battery.
The HTC U11 Life is a smaller variant of the company's current flagship device (HTC U11). It comes in two variants, one running on Android One and another with the HTC's Sense UI, which is based on Android Nougat. The device features a 5.2-inch LCD display and is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 octa-core chipset and 3GB RAM coupled with 32GB storage. It’s also available in a 4GB RAM/64GB configuration. The smartphone features a 16MP sensor on both the front and rear cameras with f/2.0 aperture lens, and packs a 2600mAh battery.