HTC U Flagship Smartphone To Be Announced On May 16

HTC may have already released the smartphone called the HTC U Ultra, but it will soon be announcing its flagship model next month. The Taiwanese phone maker has revealed that it will be announcing its flagship smartphone next month on May 16.

HTC revealed the launch date of its upcoming flagship smartphone via Twitter. The company’s tweet also included a five-second teaser briefly showing of the handset. It was also accompanied by the following tagline: “Squeeze for the Brilliant U.” The upcoming handset is believed to be called the HTC U, according to GSM Arena. The device was previously codenamed “Ocean.”

Based on previous leaks, the upcoming handset will simply look like a smaller version of the 5.7-inch U Ultra with a screen size of 5.5 inches. Unlike the U Ultra, the HTC U flagship won’t feature a secondary display on top of the main display. The device is also expected to made out of metal and glass with a fingerprint scanner/home button up front.

Previous rumors say that the HTC U flagship will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC, the same chipset that’s on Samsung’s Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus. Other rumored hardware specs include 4GB/6GB of RAM, 64GB/128GB of storage, a 3,000 mAh battery, a 12MP main camera and a 16MP front-facing camera, and Bluetooth 5.0 support, according to Phone Arena.

The feature that will set the HTC U apart from its predecessors is what the company is calling Edge Sense. The handset is believed to have a touch-sensitive metallic frame that allows users to simply swipe, touch or even squeeze the edges of the handset to bring up app shortcuts and other functions, according to VentureBeat’s Evan Blass.

On the software side of things, the HTC U flagship will arrive with Android 7.1 Nougat straight out of the box, while HTC’s custom Sense 9 UI will be running on top.