Once the biggest player in the world of Android phones, HTC has gone a bit quiet of late. That’s understandable, having lost much of its smartphone talent to Google, but since the company’s wildcard blockchain handset there’s not been a peep out of the firm.
Until now, anyway. Over the weekend, HTC put up a teaser phone on its Taiwanese Facebook page. A warning in advance, there’s really not much to go on at all here:
Told you. So there’s the brand – that’s a start – and there’s a date: 6.11, meaning we’ll hear more tomorrow.
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If you’re particularly eagle-eyed, you’ll also spot the “e” in the text below the data. That, says the internet, is a key detail as it suggests HTC is planning on releasing a midranger. If that feels like a stretch, remember that the cut-down version of the Samsung Galaxy S10 is called the S10e.
More importantly, there are benchmarks as well. Back in April, a mysterious HTC handset appeared on benchmarking site Antutu with fairly middling specifications. An Android 9 device, powered by a Snapdragon 710 processor with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage. That’s identical specs to the Oppo RX17 Pro if you want an early insight into how it should perform.
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The 2160×1080 device came with the distinctly uncatchy codename of “HTC 2Q7A100”, but the general internet consensus is that this will be the HTC U19e.
We’ll see tomorrow, but it’s hard to keep too much enthusiasm. While HTC used to make the best Android phones around (we still have a soft spot for the HTC One M8), the company’s recent output has been considerably less inspiring. Its last big release was the HTC U12 Plus, a phone that got a middling three-star review from us. “A great camera – but, sadly, not much else to get excited about” was Max’s verdict back in the day.
Fingers crossed that HTC can prove us wrong tomorrow.
Are you excited about a new HTC phone? Let us know on Twitter: @TrustedReviews.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.