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Former HTC design chief who oversaw the classic M7 and M8 smartphones now working on Beats, other Apple products

The HTC M7 was designed under Scott Croyle's leadership and featured Beats audio tuning. (Image: Anandtech)
The HTC M7 was designed under Scott Croyle's leadership and featured Beats audio tuning. (Image: Anandtech)
HTC may be just clinging on to the smartphone market, but there is little question that at its peak it produced some of the most beautiful smartphones ever made. The former design chief behind its classic M7 and M8 smartphones is now working at Apple on new Beats headphones along with other design work for the company, it has been revealed.

HTC’s rise and fall is a particularly sad story. Once the pinnacle of Android smartphone design, the company is now a shadow of its former self after being swamped by Samsung and others. In particular, the HTC M7 and HTC M8 were iconic designs that have withstood the test of time and still look great today. In fact, some commented at the time how Apple-like those particular designs were.

The chief designer at HTC at the time, Scott Croyle, was hired by Apple last year although it was unclear what role he had taken up. It has now been revealed that Croyle is now the design director at Beats, working on its future headphones. HTC, ironically, once owned the controlling stake in Beats and the M7 smartphone featured audio that was tuned by Beats. It even had Beats branding on the rear of the device, something that Apple has avoided doing with its iPhones.

Apple of course went on to purchase Beats and now Croyle has found himself doing the design work on the Beats headphone side of things. Apparently Croyle is also working on some unspecified Apple products as well, but it wouldn’t surprise if these are future Apple-branded headphones and earbuds including the rumored AirPods and AirPods Pro refreshes. Even if HTC’s best days are behind it, it is good to know that it’s former talent is still making its mark.

Buy the Beats Solo Pro wireless noice cancelling headphones from Amazon.

Scott Croyle back in his HTC days. (Image: Gustau Nacarino /Reuters)
Scott Croyle back in his HTC days. (Image: Gustau Nacarino /Reuters)

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > News > News Archive > Newsarchive 2021 05 > Former HTC design chief who oversaw the classic M7 and M8 smartphones now working on Beats, other Apple products
Sanjiv Sathiah, 2021-05-15 (Update: 2021-05-15)