Next HTC U11 Flagship Smartphone Will Have A Bezel-Less, 18:9 Display

Part of HTC’s smartphone division is being acquired by Google for $1.1 billion, but the Taiwanese company is still working on its own flagship device. It’s upcoming new flagship smartphone will reportedly be called the HTC U11 Plus and it’s rumored to arrive with a bezel-less, edge-to-edge display.

Last year, HTC was rumored to be developing several smartphones. At the time, those devices were codenamed Ocean, Ocean Note, Ocean Smart and Ocean Master. The Ocean turned out to be the HTC U11, the Ocean Note became the HTC U Ultra and the Ocean Smart just didn’t become a real product, as pointed out by the XDA Developers site. The Ocean Master is now believed to be the next HTC flagship smartphone and it could end up being called the HTC U11 Plus.

French website Frandroid was able to see the full spec sheet of the HTC U11 Plus and shared it online. The upcoming handset appears to feature a 5.99-inch quad HD 1440p display that will be supplied by Japan Display Inc. The display will also have an 18:9 aspect ratio, the same one that’s on the LG G6 and the V30. This is a strong indicator that the HTC U11 Plus will have a bezel-less design.

Inside, the HTC Ocean Master or U11 Plus will be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 processor with 4GB/6GB of RAM and 64GB/128GB of UFS 2.1 storage. The smartphone will house an 18 Watt Battery and will support QuickCharge 3.0 through its USB Type-C port. The device is also expected to ditch the 3.5mm headphone jack and will ship with USB-C headphones.

For cameras, the HTC U11 Plus is listed as having a single 12-megapixel camera on the back and an 8-megapixel selfie camera up front. Most big players in the smartphone industry are already moving toward dual-camera setups for their flagship smartphones. It seems a bit odd that HTC isn’t doing the same. That being said, Google’s upcoming Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL smartphones are both expected to arrive with single rear-facing cameras. However, Google’s prowess in camera software has proven that it doesn’t need dual cameras on its Pixel phones just yet.

HTC’s Edge Sense, which was first introduced in the HTC U11, is also said to make a return for the HTC U11 Plus. Edge Sense allows users to squeeze the frame of the phone to trigger actions and open app shortcuts. Edge Sense has been seen as gimmicky, but HTC seems adamant on making it more ubiquitous on its new smartphones.

Lastly, the HTC U11 Plus is said to be IP68 water- and dust-resistant. This is the same water resistance rating on Samsung’s Galaxy S8 and Note 8 smartphones. A device with an IP68 rating is able to survive under a maximum depth of 1.5 meters under water for up to 30 minutes.

The HTC U11 Plus is rumored to be announced on Nov. 11 in China alongside the HTC U11 Ocean Life, which is expected to be an Android One phone.