You can expect fewer phones from HTC in 2018 and beyond

It's been quite a year for HTC, what with price drops for the HTC Vive, the launch of the HTC U11 flagship phone, and the sale of a big chunk of its smartphone operations to Google. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given that Google sale, we're going to see fewer HTC phones in 2018 according to reports.

According to DigiTimes, which has a fairly good record in terms of knowing what's coming in the Asian phone supply chain, HTC is going to focus its resources on just a couple of phone launches in 2018.

The first will be the HTC U11 Plus, which we already know a lot about, except when it's actually going to go on sale. The bigger, longer-lasting version of the original U11 should be heading out to selected markets early in the New Year (January 2018, if sources speaking to DigiTimes are to be believed).

Turn it up to 12

The second phone launch HTC has pencilled in for next year is of course the HTC U12, its flagship model for 2018. If it's going to follow the pattern of this year and the HTC U11, we can expect to see the phone make an appearance in May or thereabouts.

It sounds as though the HTC U12 is going to come with a Snapdragon 845 processor, a 4K screen, and a dual-sensor rear camera, according to DigiTimes sources, so it should be able to hold its own against the big boys, on paper at least. Whether it's enough to keep HTC in the smartphone business remains to be seen.

After 2018, who knows? HTC has made some fine phones down the years but has struggled to make a significant dent in terms of market share despite the quality of its handsets. Perhaps focusing on a smaller number of devices will see a change in fortunes.

• HTC will start making dual-camera phones again next year

Via Phandroid