Not everyone remembers the last time they carried an HTC smartphone, as the brand has been overshadowed by Samsung, Google, and OnePlus. However, HTC is plotting an interesting comeback to the smartphone market with a new handset set to be announced on June 28.
HTC shared a tweet on Thursday, June 9, teasing a new phone dedicated to the metaverse — specifically, HTC’s own “Viverse.” The official teaser poster shows the shape of the phone with rings extending further back from the screen like eternal mirrors.
Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends
Aside from the announcement date, there’s not a lot of information to go on. As mentioned above, the really interesting thing will be the phone’s apparent metaverse connection. HTC announced its Viverse brand in March 2022 as a way to market its metaverse ambitions. While much of the metaverse conversation revolves around Facebook parent company Meta, HTC clearly wants its own slice of the metaverse pie. And, apparently, part of that mission includes launching a metaverse smartphone.
Log in to the Future2022.06.28#HTC #VIVERSE #Seeyousoon#Createmymetaverselife pic.twitter.com/YwiE3B0r9U
— HTC (@htc) June 9, 2022
A few years ago, long before “metaverse” became the buzzword it is today, HTC attempted something similar with the launch of the HTC Exodus and HTC Exodus 1s. As some of the first smartphones to support blockchain technology, each version was designed as a digital wallet that would carry Bitcoin and other forms of cryptocurrency. Unsurprisingly, the niche focus of building a smartphone solely around crypto never really took off.
Now with the metaverse on the horizon, for better or worse, HTC wants to give its lofty smartphone ambitions another shot. HTC’s metaverse phone was supposed to debut back in April, but COVID-19 outbreaks in Taiwan forced HTC to delay its reveal.
