Around a decade back, HTC was one of the biggest smartphone makers in the world but has almost sunk into oblivion in recent times. The company never announced a retreat from the market, and even though it scaled back operations after selling a chunk of its business to Google in 2018, it still quietly sells affordable phones in select markets. The Taiwanese manufacturer has now revealed plans to release a flagship smartphone in April.
Vice President of HTC’s Asia-Pacific Region, Charles Huang said during the ongoing Mobile World Congress (MWC) that the company will introduce a high-end smartphone next month.
The company last released a flagship smartphone, the Exodus 1, in 2018. It was a blockchain-focused handset and was powered by Qualcomm’s premium Snapdragon 845 chip. HTC, which was the first to make both an Android device and a Windows Mobile handset, has been in the red since 2015 and has shifted focus to virtual reality headsets and accessories.
During MWC, the company announced Viverse, which is its version of the metaverse and will make use of the in-house Vive VR headsets. It comes as no surprise that HTC is planning on integrating some metaverse features into the phone. It looks like the company wants to target consumers who would like to use their phone for augmented reality and virtual reality applications.
Other details are still under wraps, but more information will likely be coming soon. Whether it will help HTC turn things around and give a tough time to the best phones of 2022 remains to be seen.