HTC Plans To Launch A 5G Phone In July But There's A Catch

If you've been wondering if HTC is still alive, don't worry, you're probably not the only one thinking that. Of course, the company is still alive and kicking but you probably only hear about it if you've been following the VR market. As far as smartphones go, HTC has not launched a single notable phone in more than a year. That could be changing in July when it launches its first 5G phone but you might not want to hold your breath if you live outside of Taiwan.

Almost all smartphone makers have a 5G phone in one form or another, or at least the manufacturers with premium models to sell. Even Sony, who may be ranked together with HTC as one of the "dead" phone makers, has a 5G phone, or at least in the odd case that the Xperia 1 II is shipping with the feature enabled. HTC did promise earlier this year that it would jump on that bandwagon soon but it never really said when.

A new report now suggests that HTC has picked the month of July for that if only for the fact that there will be a country-wide launch of 5G products that month. This would suggest that HTC's 5G phone will be targeted at its home market and has little chance of reaching other shores, especially given how 5G support isn't consistent across the world.

Other than 5G capability, little is known about this upcoming phone, especially whether it would be considered "high-end" or not. Luckily for HTC, Qualcomm has the Snapdragon 765 and 768 to allow it to offer 5G on a mid-range phone.

That's not to say HTC doesn't have any new phone planned other than that. There was word last month of an HTC Desire 20 Pro and the same source suggests that that phone will be launched in June. That, however, will most likely have late 2019 specs that will undoubtedly make it pretty much pointless for many buyers.