- HTC is preparing its return to the smartphone market
- It would launch the HTC U23 Pro, a competing model of the Pixel 7a, among others
- Former Android leader, HTC had refocused on VR following the decline of its smartphone activity
HTC, the Taiwanese brand which has known hours of glory in the past, but which has lost ground against the competition, is trying to revive itself with a new smartphone: the HTC U23 Pro. This model, which has not yet been officially announced, was spotted on the benchmark platform Geekbench par PhoneArenathus revealing its technical characteristics.
The HTC U23 Pro is positioned as a smartphone with a high-end technical sheet, equipped with a 6.64-inch Super AMOLED display with a Full HD + definition and a refresh rate of 90 Hz. It is powered by the Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 processor, an octa-core SoC engraved in 6 nm and 5G compatible. It is accompanied by 12 GB of RAM and 256 or 512 GB of internal storage, expandable via a microSDXC card.
The HTC U23 Pro has a triple rear photo sensor, consisting of a 50-megapixel main module with optical image stabilization (OIS), an 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle module and a 2-megapixel macro module. On the front, it has a 16-megapixel selfie camera. It can record 4K videos at 30 or 60 frames per second².
The HTC U23 Pro is powered by a 5000 mAh battery, compatible with 65 W fast charging, which would charge the smartphone to 100% in just 22 minutes. It also has a fingerprint sensor, USB-C port, 3.5mm jack, NFC, Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2. It runs Android 13, the latest version of Google’s operating system.
The HTC U23 Pro has not yet been formalized by the brand. No leak either on its release date or price. However, it could be launched soon in the Asian and European markets, where HTC retains some notoriety.
According to Phonearena, it could sell out around 588 US dollars (about 490 euros), which would put it in the same range as competitors like the Pixel 7a, which Google should unveil at Google I/O.
HTC, a historic brand
Founded in 1997, HTC began by manufacturing laptops and personal digital assistants. Faced with the emergence of smartphones, the company then embarked on the design of these terminals, first under the Qtek brand, then under its own name from 2006 with the HTC TyTN.
HTC was one of the pioneers of the Android operating system, developed by Google. She was even a founding member of theOpen Handset Alliancea consortium of manufacturers and carriers to promote Android.
Historical ally of Google, HTC has produced the very first Android smartphone on the market, the HTC Dream, released in 2008. It also collaborated with Google on the Nexus range, which offered smartphones with a pure version of Android. The first model, the Nexus One, was launched in 2010.
Renowned for its sleek device design and personalized user interface, called HTC Sense (first launched in 2009 with the HTC Hero), HTC has enjoyed commercial and critical success for many years.
Then the company lost ground to increased competition from Samsung and Apple, as well as new players like Huawei and Xiaomi. Its market shares have fallen and its financial results have deteriorated.
HTC then tried to diversify beyond smartphones, by launching into virtual reality with the HTC Vive, a headset developed in partnership with Valve, in 2016. Then, the descent into hell continuing, the company decided to focus its activity on virtual reality.
She then sold some of her talents and smartphone-related patents to Google in 2017 for $1.1 billion. Despite everything, HTC remains a respected brand in the Android smartphone market, but it faces many challenges to regain its place in a very competitive market.
