To start the new year, HTC is planning to unveil something important. Just this week, the Taiwanese phone maker started sending out invitations to the press for an event scheduled on January 12th next year. The invitation came in the form of a teaser image that depicts a big, bold letter U imposed over a completely sky blue background (see it here, courtesy of The Verge).
As far as teasers go, HTC’s invite does its job well. Despite the lack of detailed information, there is some speculation that the mobile manufacturer will be officially unveiling the HTC X10, the midrange follow up to the HTC X9, as early as next month. This device is rumored to be fitted with a fully metallic body as well as a 5.5 inch full HD (with a resolution of 1,920 by 1,080 pixels) display screen with materials courtesy of Gorilla Glass (just like the X9). With regards to hardware specifications, the HTC X10 is said to house a 2 GigaHertz eight core MediaTek Helio P10 chip set and a Mali T860 graphics processing unit (GPU), aided by 3 gigabytes of random access memory (RAM). Camera wise, the handset is also rumored to sport a 13 megapixel camera on the rear side (with optical image stabilization), and a price of about $300.
Or, the company could be formally announcing an entirely different device -- the HTC 11, its next flagship smartphone offering. Based on leaked photos posted on Weibo, the handset appears to go for an angular aluminum aesthetic, with a 5.5 inch Quad HD (2,560 by 1,440 pixel resolution) display screen that spans edge to edge on the device’s front side. The HTC 11 is also expected to be equipped with twin 12 megapixel cameras on the rear side, as well as an 8 megapixel selfie shooter on the front side. Hardware specs wise, it is rumored to boast a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor, plus 8 gigabytes of RAM and 256 gigabytes of built in memory. Other speculated specs include a 3,700 mAh battery and support for the Quick Charge 4.0 rapid charging standard.
For all we know, it is quite possible that instead of unveiling a smartphone, HTC will be announcing a new wearable device this coming January 12th. A couple of months ago, leaked photos of an HTC made smartwatch circulated in the interwebs. Codenamed Halfbreak, this smartwatch sports a circular design, a black bezel, a color display (360 by 360 pixel resolution), and heart rate monitoring capabilities.