HTC will announce its next flagship U series device on May 16. The smartphone codenamed Ocean is widely anticipated to be launched as HTC U. HTC has announced the upcoming launch on its Twitter account with a tagline: "Squeeze for the Brilliant U."
The tagline further confirms the rumour that company's next flagship will feature Edge Sense technology. HTC's Edge Sense feature will allow users to perform frequent actions like launching camera app with the help of gestures. A previous leak from Evan Blass suggests Edge Sense will employ frame mounted sensors to enable gesture-based user controls like squeezing or swiping along the sides of the device.
https://twitter.com/htc/status/854937689354772480
HTC U's marquee feature will be Edge Sense, but the smartphone may also feature a 5.5-inch WQHD display and Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 835 processor. The smartphone is expected to bear resemblance to HTC-made Pixel lineup and use a metal and glass build, like the recently launched U Ultra. HTC U is said to utilise a 12MP Sony IMX362 sensor for its rear camera and a 16MP IMX351 for its selfie shooter. The smartphone will be offered with either 64GB or 128GB storage and support microSD expansion.
The HTC U will hopefully run the new Sense 9 UI based on Android 7.1 Nougat with support for gestures.