HTC kickstarted 2017 with the announcement of its new U lineup of phones, the U Ultra and U Play. The specs of the U Ultra led many to believe that it was going to be HTC’s flagship smartphone for 2017 even though it featured a Snapdragon 821 processor. Worry not, though, HTC’s President of smartphones, Chialin Chang, has confirmed in an interview that HTC will indeed be launching a Snapdragon 835 powered flagship later this year.
Chang also confirmed that the Snapdragon 835 powered flagship from HTC will not be showcased at MWC this year. Going by a previous report, it is clear why: Samsung has hoarded the entire supply of Snapdragon 835 chips until the Galaxy S8 launch in April. So other OEMs are being forced to either delay their flagships or launch them with older chipsets. While LG decided to go ahead and launch the G6 at MWC with a Snapdragon 821 chipset, HTC has wisely decided to push back the launch of its flagship to ensure that it launches with Qualcomm’s upcoming chipset. As for the decision to go with the Snapdragon 821 inside the U Ultra, Chang says that HTC took that decision 11 months ago. The executive also confirmed in the interview that HTC is no longer building an Android Wear smartwatch. This is understandable since the company does not have the resources and financial status to develop a smartwatch, a category that has failed to take off among consumers.
