As a hotly anticipated mid-range smartphone, fans of the HTC U11 EYEs have been eagerly awaiting news of a release date. It seems that the wait is over, however, with the phone set to be announced on January 15.
The HTC U11 EYEs, also known as the HTC Harmony, is the latest mid-range device from the Taiwanese manufacturer, and is set to go on sale in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan on January 17, following the announcement on the 15th.
While the HTC U11 EYEs hasn’t actually been revealed at this point, Chinese media have already received invitations to an HTC event that is expected to reveal the Harmony. There’s a miniscule chance that the event is for something else, but considering information that suggests a mid-january release for the HTC U11 EYEs, it’s almost certain that the event will be an official announcement.
Competition In The Western Market
With HTC based in Taiwan, they’ve seen some major success in their home country and China at large. While the company has done a little better than relative newcomer Huawei when it comes to capturing the attention of a western market, HTC continues to fall behind giants like Samsung and Apple when it comes to sales.
While Huawei has only recently brought their phones to the west, HTC has had their phones in the hands of western users for years at this point, so it’s a little unexpected that the company has had as much trouble as they’ve had in capturing a portion of the increasingly competitive market.
Is there room for manufacturers outside of Samsung and Apple in the eyes of Americans and Europeans buying flagships? There have been some quality phones from other manufacturers like Google, Huawei, and HTC, but adoption is not nearly as widespread.
With the HTC U11 EYEs marketed as a mid-range smartphone – and with prices to match – the company may be able to carve out a significant piece of sales for themselves. Trying to compete with the smartphone giants by releasing flagships is much more risky than pushing out some mid-range devices. It remains to be seen whether the HTC U11 EYEs will see success outside of Asia, but there’s definitely some potential there.
HTC U11 EYEs: What We Know
Although the HTC U11 EYEs has yet to be announced, we already have a decent idea of what the phone will bring to the table. As mentioned above, the phone is expected to be a mid-range device, and it has middle-of-the-road specifications to match.
The Harmony will ship with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 processor and 4GB of RAM, which should give it the power it needs to handle most any task with a good amount of speed. It’s not a high-end chip by any means, but it’s definitely enough for all but the most intensive tasks.
The screen will also be a bit of an upgrade, being slightly larger than its predecessor at 5.99-inches and an 18:9 aspect ratio. The HTC U11 EYEs also packs in a pretty respectable battery, with a 3930 mAh capacity that should keep you going all day on a single charge.
There’s not too much known so far about the camera on the back of the phone, but we do know that it will be a single lens and feature a dual-LED flash. A fingerprint sensor will also be included.
There are rumored to be two different HTC U11 EYEs models announced at the HTC event, with the second more premium model running a Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 processor, which is a notable improvement over the base model’s 652. Both versions of the phone will run Android Nougat, but the higher-end model should perform slightly better.
The HTC U11 EYEs will likely cost around $400 in Hong Kong. At this current point, it’s unclear as to whether HTC will launch the phone in other regions at a later date. While a western release may be risky considering the fact that the company has seen middling success in the region, it may be a chance worth taking if the company is to continue to establish itself as a competitor worldwide rather than solely inside Asia.
