HTC – the brand famous for powering the uptick of Google’s Android and spearheading the move to 4G before falling from the limelight – has announced its return to the smartphone arena. And the new phone – which the company teased at Mobile World Contgress back in March will – of course – feature “metaverse elements”.
Little is known about the upcoming smartphone except that – it’s now official – it’ll debut at its own launch event on June 28 2022.
HTC’s fallen kingdom
Just five years ago, HTC owned a sizable portion of the global smartphone market with hits such as their HTC One 4G phones, but after going toe-to-toe against behemoth Samsung it lost its lead, eventually selling the bulk of its smartphone IP to Google, makers of the Android platform it relied on.
The branding released so far shows that their upcoming smartphone will have a strong connection to the metaverse, featuring hashtags such as #Createmymetaverselife and #Viveverse (a metaverse based on their Vive range of VR headsets). As yet, however, there’s no information as to what this could mean for users. HTC pivoted to VR with its flagship Vive headset when it took a step back from manufacturing smartphones.
There’s no name for the upcoming smartphone as yet. Could be called “Viverse” as their Twitter teaser implies, creating a bond with the world created for their Vive VR headsets?
Log in to the Future
2022.06.28#HTC #VIVERSE #Seeyousoon#Createmymetaverselife pic.twitter.com/YwiE3B0r9U— HTC (@htc) June 9, 2022
Connection with the Viverse?
We’re expecting the smartphone to give users some form of access to the Viverse, which is a metaverse platform where users can hold meetings, watch VR concerts , sell or buy NFTs, play games and more.
HTC originally scheduled the metaverse phone to debut in April but was delayed due to COVID-19 outbreaks in many parts of Taiwan. Now the new date is set – June 28 2022.
Their old smartphone days may be over (and financial difficulties continue to be a problem) so could this new ‘metaverse phone’ mark a reversal of fortune? HTC certainly hope so.
Isa Muhammad is a writer and video game journalist covering many aspects of entertainment media including the film industry. He's steadily writing his way to the sharp end of journalism and enjoys staying informed. If he's not reading, playing video games or catching up on his favourite TV series, then he's probably writing about them.
