HTC is set to launch its latest smartphone on May 18, according to a tweet from the company. The one-time smartphone giant’s latest phone will be the U23 Pro 5G, which while sounding impressive, is very much a mid-range phone. An interesting aspect of the launch announcement is that HTC will be leaning into its Viverse cross-platform VR app store that includes a range of immersive experiences and games.
The specs of the HTC U23 Pro 5G are said to be quite modest with the rumor mill pointing to the device being powered by the Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 which is an 8-core design with four Cortex A710 cores joined by four Cortex-A510 cores and mated to 8GB of RAM. The SoC also integrates a Qualcomm Adreno 644 GPU. While it should deliver adequate performance, it is fabricated on Samsung’s troublesome 4nm node, which struggles somewhat with efficiency.
The HTC U23 Pro 5G is expected to come equipped with an AMOLED panel which will have a 120Hz refresh rate, although details on its dimensions have yet to surface. Leaked images of the device suggest it will have at least three main cameras supplemented by a fourth, possibly for macro shots or for depth sensing when taking portrait photos. The main camera will use a 108 MP sensor while the specs for the remaining cameras are unknown at this time.
While we will need to wait for the May 18 launch to find out pricing and other details, we do know that it will ship with a 4,600 mAh battery and Android 13 will be pre-loaded.