Amazon Phone Rumors: HTC To Produce Amazon's Smartphone Line?

Some details leaked earlier in October regarding Amazon’s plan for its own line of smartphones, but now it appears we know how Amazon will pull off the device in order to launch in 2014. The Financial Times reports that HTC Corp. (TPE:2498) has partnered with Amazon Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) to produce a new line of smartphones.

The report comes amidst some pretty bad press revolving around the latest release from HTC, the HTC One Max. HTC reported losing money for the first time in its most recent quarter.

IBTimes previously reported on a leak by a supposed Amazon insider that the world’s largest retailer was planning to two phones: an inexpensive device running software similar to the Kindle Fire and a premium device featuring a 3D user interface, eye tracking and image recognition. However, the leak also noted that the project has suffered numerous delays.

Given the problems HTC has had with winning over consumers in the US, it may not seem like the ideal pairing for a product that has been troublesome for Amazon. HTC also doesn’t have a good track record for partnering with Internet companies. Most recently, HTC was responsible for the HTC First, otherwise known as the “Facebook Phone,” which was considered by most to be a disaster.

If the previously leaked features are real, it could be enough to get people to try out the HTC phones, especially if partnered with the Amazon name. So far though, history does not bode well for the company.

What do you think about HTC producing a line of Amazon phones? Let us know in the comments.