HTC phones aren’t dead yet. At least for now. Even after its smartphone workforce has been almost cut in half by the Google “agreement”, HTC assures its loyal followers and investors that it will still be making smartphones. And as if on cue, details of a certain HTC U11 Plus have surfaced, claiming to be the company’s late 2017 flagship. And, almost ironically, it might be its most daring smartphone yet.
I'm an HTC fan, but I can't say I'm impressed by the company's billion dollar deal with Google. The phone-maker has been instrumental in many of the most pivotal moments in modern smartphone history, producing some of my favorite devices in the process. I've also found myself at times being one of the company's more vocal critics, though, and for all HTC's attempts to spin this deal with Google as a win-win for all, I'm not convinced.
Google has gone shopping, spending $1.1bn on picking up some of the key Pixel team from long-time Android partner HTC. It's not the outright acquisition that many predicted, and nor is it a wholesale sell-off of the HTC smartphone team. Instead, the deal - though couched in the usual "testament to the decade-long strategic relationship between HTC and Google" hyperbole - seems more akin to a hybrid talent-grab and bailout, dressed as cooperation. Here's what you need to know.
HTC phones are dead. Long live Google phones, or something to that effect. As has been speculated, and perhaps even wished for, Google has acquired HTC, or rather only a part of it. It has purchased HTC’s smartphone operations only, but is still giving the Taiwanese company some wiggle room for its own smartphones. And the price Google paid the embattled former tech giant? $1.1 billion, which is a paltry sum compared to to the $12.5 billion paid for when it acquired Motorola and even less than half of the $2.9 billion it got from selling Moto to Lenovo.
Earlier in the month, we told you that Google may be considering an HTC buyout. You'd be forgiven if you initially disregarded such claims, but today we're getting more evidence that such an acquisition could be imminent. HTC has decided to suspend the trade of its shares, a move that will go into effect tomorrow.
This morning a set of images of the Google Pixel 2 were leaked, and many details were spilled therein. These devices were leaked in both black and white, one with all-black, the other with black, white, and a lovely little red. These devices are manufactured by LG and will be called Pixel 2 XL.
We haven't heard much about HTC's upcoming standalone VR headset — a model of the Vive that doesn't need to be tethered to a PC — but that's likely to change in the near future. There's still a lot of questions about the hardware details, however there's a good chance the device's name has just been discovered. A pair of trademark filings from HTC were recently made, referring to a device called " Vive Focus."
Android One has always been an odd program and, for a time, it seemed that Google would give up on it altogether. That seemed especially possible after it announced its Android Go program for “constrained devices”. But Google insisted that Android One is still a go and it has, in fact, launched the first new device in a long while, the Xiaomi Mi A1. Now it seems that there will indeed be new Android One phones, with the next one coming from HTC, based on the unreleased HTC U11 Life, a.k.a. the HTC Ocean Life.
With screens effectively pushing out bezels and buttons from the faces of phones, OEMs are looking to the back and sides for additional controls. But instead of simply adding yet another button, HTC dared to do something new in the HTC U11: Edge Sense. As fancy as it may be, the squeezable interface didn’t exactly wow users when the phone launched. But HTC at least seems committed to making that gesture more functional and more customizable. Unlike a certain Korean manufacturer hellbent on locking its new single-purpose button to that single, still practically useless purpose.
A report from China suggests that HTC is in final negotiations to sell at least part of their business to Google. In a way similar to the acquisition of Nokia's phone hardware business by Microsoft or even Google's acquisition of Motorola, Google's reported to be aiming for HTC. The report at hand suggests that this sale would be for the HTC smartphone research and development team only, and wouldn't include the entire company nor its Virtual Reality arm (with the HTC Vive).
Details about the Google Pixel 2 and Google Pixel XL 2 were revealed thanks to a set of images that preclude a launch in early October. Both devices are quite likely set to be manufactured by their own individual sources, one from HTC, the other from LG. But their innards are extremely similar - much like the first wave of Pixel smartphones, both with the same processor, RAM, and Android build. Today we're nearly on the button.
Designer R.Batinic submitted a concept design for the next Google Pixel this week with simple lines and tight borders. This design looks relatively similar to what we've seen in leaks, and some details appear to reflect what's been said by anonymous insiders. What we're going to do today is inspect this design and compare it to what we're pretty sure we know about the next Pixel and Pixel XL (2017).
