HTC might have sold a significant chunk of its mobile phone business to Google, but the company is lining up a new HTC U12 flagship, codenamed HTC Imagine, to succeed the impressive yet highly underrated HTC U11 from 2017.
In fact, we already have just about everything we need to know regarding the major specs of the U12. Being a flagship Android phone, you can easily guess what the phone brings to the table, which is as listed below.
HTC U12 leaked specs
- 5.99-inch QHD+ display screen
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chipset
- Up to 6GB RAM (possibly with a base model of 4GB)
- Up to 256GB storage (possibly starting with a base model of 64GB)
- Dual main camera with 12MP + 16MP (Sony IMX3xx) sensors and 8MP front camera
- 3420mAh battery unit
- IP68 dust and water resistance
- Android 8.0 Oreo with Sense 10 and full Treble support and seamless updates
- Single and dual-SIM variants
HTC U12 features to define its success, not the specs
As you can see, HTC U12 will stick to the same specs sheet that other Android flagship phones will have. Samsung’s Galaxy S9 and S9+, Sony’s Xperia XZ2 and XZ2 Compact and even Asus’ ZenFone 5Z already boast just about the same specs and we are still to see the same in the likes of OnePlus 6, Xiaomi Mi 7, Mi MIX 2S, LG G7 (or whatever name it’ll be called) and so on.
In order to stay relevant in the highly competitive smartphone market, we’ve seen the Galaxy S9 and S9+ come in with features such as variable aperture and 960fps slow-motion videos in HD (720p), a feature that Sony’s Xperia XZ2 takes to the next level by supporting 1080p videos. The latter also stands out with features like dynamic vibration and 3D creator support for front and selfie camera, among others.
Stand out from the crowd
In order to stand out, HTC U12 also needs its own unique features. Face Unlock is still relatively new, but not unique. Although the company has given Google Pixel 2 handsets its squeeze tech, there’s no other OEMs doing anything similar to that. This, in itself, should be a major selling point for the U12, especially now that it’s coming with Edge Sense 2.0, which should introduce new features and functionality.
The shiny glass back, that first appeared on the U Ultra and later transitioned into one of the best designs at the time of launching the U11 is great. However, looking at what happened at the MWC 2018, it’s easy to conclude that aluminum designs are long gone.
https://twitter.com/vladsavov/status/970240906082349056
Perhaps throwing in some of those impressive color options at launch or adding features like hi-res dual stereo speakers and even the support for 960fps slow-motion videos at 1080p, among others, would do the trick.
It’s true the leaked HTC U12 specs are great, but they aren’t anything to wow you because they are what we expected anyway. If anything, the success of the U12 is heavily dependent on what HTC can pull out from its innovation coffers and not the specs.
