We have heard from multiple sources at HTC that they were no longer making smartphones and were instead focusing on other areas of the tech market such as their Vive series and 5G Wi-Fi devices. Every now and again though rumours appeared or executives accidentally forgot the company line and said smartphones were still coming. Now it is official, at least one HTC smartphone is coming.

According to their social media channels HTC will be releasing their new Desire 20 series next week on June 16. The new series in unlikely to be a flagship smartphone and instead something in the mid-range which their Desire series has been for a long time.

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With their fortunes taking a turn for the worse in recent years culminating in them selling most of their smartphone division to Google they are obviously hoping to produce something that everyone will want and at an affordable price.

The Desire 20 (at least one version of it) is rumoured to be arriving with a Snapdragon 665 on board alongside 6GB of RAM, FHD+ display and the latest Android version, 10. We have seen higher specced Snapdragon chipsets in the mid-range so this one is not expected to sit in the upper levels of it and tend towards the more affordable end of the market segment.

The mid-range market segment is extremely competitive at the moment with OPPO, Vivo, realme, Samsung and more producing multiple devices all fitting within the segment making it very difficult for HTC to have any impact there. It is possible that after not producing a smartphone for a while they think it would be easier for them to manufacture a mid-range device and that is why they are playing in that segment, no matter how crowded it is.

It will be interesting to see how HTC position this new smartphone and to what regions they will sell it. We feel it is extremely unlikely that it will arrive here in Australia but HTC has a decent brand awareness here in Australia so fingers crossed we get to see it.

What do you think about HTC coming back to the smartphone market? Can they turn around their fortunes with a mid-range smartphone?

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FestivusOz

They should focus on Android One devices worth regular updates. That would lol in the mid range. They would not likely consider this though.

Ronnie

I love HTC phones and can’t wait to buy their coming mobile/cell phone.

Tom Sekulic

Good luck with getting regular software updates.

You should seriously consider Pixel 4a for a midrange phone. Google has bought most of the HTC’s IP so you may as well get a Google phone.

Mark

I was brand loyal since I got my first Desire but 3 more HTC devices later I moved on, not because I didn’t like their phones but because they left the market. This new phone is too late and frankly not good enough to get me back.

Oldmike

Never really seen much in htc in the later models of their handsets that really grabbed me , except for maybe one in particular, but it did have one feature that htc imo got wrong that made it a stinker in the market to most but the most ardent of htc fans . although early models looked very attractive, i was already looking at brands with more bells and whistles . It is a shame to see companies that showed promise go by the wayside. Some People say companies that are not doing well don`t market well compared to brand… Read more ยป

Username001

The midrange segment is where the money is at, there are lots of people unwilling or unable to buy a phone that costs in excess of $1000.
 
In my experience HTC made good solid phones that last well. Their final flagships before Google bought part of their smartphone department had decent camera’s too but failed on the solid buttons until the software updates fixed those issues.
 
Assuming their new phone works well, pricing will be the key to good sales.

sujayv_au

Used to be a great fan of HTC. My first 2-3 smartphones were all HTC. But they lost me when they started bringing out average phones with flagship pricing. The one that comes to mind is HTC One. Great phone extremely poor camera yet had a flagship price. And it went downhill after that. So as a previous fan of HTC, I too am looking forward to seeing how this Desire phone will be priced. My 3rd phone was the original HTC Desire.