HTC will cut back on its new phones by half in 2017

HTC revealed its first two smartphones for 2017 earlier today, the HTC U Ultra and the HTC U Play. How long before the next batch? While we can’t say for sure, HTChas revealed they will certainly not be flooding the market with new smartphones in the next twelve months. In fact, it plans to cut its new phone introductions by about half this year compared to 2016.

In a chat with Engadget, Chialin Chang, the President for HTC’s Smartphone and Connected Devices business, stated the company will only launch six or seven new smartphones in 2017, compared to 11 or 12 in 2016. The reason for this decision was simply to put more focus on the features of each smartphone, so they can be more competitive with rivals from Samsung, LG and others.

As far what those other four or five smartphones will be like, Chang confirmed that HTCwill launch a few new “fun and affordable” phones from its Desire brand. In a separate story from CNET, the company also confirmed that its One brand has not been retired, with a spokeswoman quoted as saying, “All options are on the table for the One line”. It’s possible it could be used for new mid-range smartphones.

And what about a true successor to 2016’s flagship phone, the HTC 10? Chang indicated to Engadget that such a phone will not be called the “HTC 11”, but no other info was revealed. However, it sounds like the company does indeed have plans to launch a new device that could have higher specs than the HTCU Ultra, perhaps using the upcoming Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor.