HTC is not done with smartphones yet, plans to release a 5G one in 2020

It wasn’t that long ago when HTC was to Android phones what Xerox was to copiers but now people barely remember the name. We’ve talked before about how and why HTC lost its standings. And while many have written off the company when it comes to smartphones, it seems we haven’t seen the last HTC phone yet.

And that’s not some wild speculation either. The news is coming from HTC’s CEO himself, as Engadget reports. In a recent interview, Yves Maitra said that HTC’s first 5G phone will be released this year. That’s as far as he was willing to go when talking about upcoming HTC phones. There are two important things to note in that statement.

First, while more budget-friendly models with 5G might become available this year, 5G is still mainly a flagship feature. Which means HTC is aiming high with this mysterious new phone. This makes sense. If the company wants to make any sort of comeback it has to go all out in order to compete with the top dogs.

Second, the fact that we’ll see the first 5G phone this year means that more than one are coming, some potentially next year.

While we’re always excited to hear about a new phone coming out, we’re skeptical about what HTC will achieve with this move.

The company’s last premium phone, the HTC U12+ was released in 2018 and in 2019 all it did was launch a blockchain-focused smartphone with an integrated wallet for cryptocurrency. HTC is so far from users’ minds right now that if it wants its new 5G phone to sell well, it must back it up with an enormous marketing campaign.

Unless HTC pulls a miracle move, its next phone is destined to be a flop, even if it's a good device overall. That can’t be said for the company’s VR headsets, however. The Vive line is well and kicking and bringing in some nice revenue. If HTC manages to somehow tie in its smartphone with VR using 5G, then who knows, maybe they’ll move some units.