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HTC U Flagship with Touch-Sensitive Frame to Launch in April

The flagship will incorporate powerful specs

Mar 28, 2017 21:15 GMT  ·  By
HTC U
   HTC U

Earlier this year, HTC released two premium smartphones, the U Ultra and U Play, while a new leak reveals that the third phone in the lineup would arrive next month. The flagship will be called simply HTC U and it’s actually the HTC Ocean that was mentioned in previous reports.

HTC U would be the company’s successor to last year’s HTC 10, taking the reign as the 2017 flagship for HTC. Rumors about the new smartphone surfaced in January this year, when a video showed the company’s new Sense Touch technology, which will be marketed as Edge Sense.

The technology will allow users to perform and customize various actions with gestures on the phone’s metal frame, not on the actual display. Users will be able to swipe along the left or right side of the device and perform various actions like open apps, scroll down on pages, access the camera more easily, and much more.

The new touch-sensitive frame does bring a novel feature on the market, one that makes it easier for users to get access to apps and data on their phones, without having to tap and swipe through multiple menus. In addition, it would make it easier to hold the phone and launch apps by using just one hand. It will be interesting to see what type of cases HTC will release for the new phones, so that the functionality of the phone’s touch-sensitive frame wouldn’t be affected.

Snapdragon 835 platform inside and a 5.5-inch QHD display

When it comes to components inside the new phone, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 platform powering the HTC U might be the reason why the phone arrives later than the other two devices in the series. It is known that Samsung has bids on SD835 production until the flagship is announced tomorrow.

Moreover, HTC U could feature a 5.5-inch QHD touchscreen, 64GB or 128GB of internal storage, a 12MP rear camera with Sony IMX362 and a 16MP IMX351 selfie snapper. The smartphone will run Android 7.1 Nougat out of the box and is expected to be announced in mid-April at the earliest and hit stores in early May.