It was a rather quiet Mobile World Congress for HTC this year as there were no new product announcements. The final consumer version of its HTC Vive headset (for which pre-orders begin on February 29th) was the star attraction. Instead of competing against LG, Samsung and others at MWC 2016, HTC will instead introduce its next flagship smartphone “very soon,” according to HTC CEO Cher Wang.
Recent rumours have suggested that HTC will finally introduce its long-rumoured smartwatch at the same event. Wang would not confirm these reports but promised, “When HTC comes out with a smartwatch, we will turn the industry on its head.”
The HTC smartwatch has been the topic of rumours for more than two years now. HTC was even introduced as one of Google’s Android Wear partners when the new wearable platform was first announced two years ago.
Chief Financial Officer Chialin Chang added that before the company releases its smartwatch, it must figure out how it will fit into its product portfolio. He used the recently launched UA Healthbox which comes with the UA Band, a smart scale and a heart rate monitor, as the kind of complete solution HTC is looking to offer. Introducing an smartwatch as a companion to a new flagship smartphone would certainly fit this approach. It would give credence to recent rumours suggesting an April launch.
As for the UA Healthbox, Wang said that sales have been “surprisingly strong.” As a result, the company is ramping up production to keep up with demand.
Will the HTC smartwatch look something like the concept above or will it also go with a round design? Let us know below what you think.
Source : CNET