HTC will have 'another flagship' with Snapdragon 835

HTC smartphone boss strongly suggests the U Ultra won't be the only high-end offering from the Taiwanese firm this year.

After HTC announced the U Ultra earlier this month, running a Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 chip, as opposed to the upcoming 835, there's been speculation that the Ultra will be the sole HTC flagship for 2017: An impressive looking phone, to be sure, but one based on a chip soon to be superseded by the latest and greatest. Now, in an interview with http://ift.tt/2k3BVdK, the company's president of smartphones and connected devices, Chialin Chang has revealed that another device is indeed in the works.

Here's Chang's response to a question on whether the Ultra would be the only HTC flagship of the year:

Every time there is a brand new CPU with power that we can leverage, we're always at the forefront doing that. Some people are talking about the timing [of our release] but timing was determined 9 months ago. This is the best CPU out there. When the next flagship CPU comes, HTC will be one of the very first tier doing that.

When we will look back, it will be clear why HTC introduced [these new phones.] We want to have a couple of months of leadership before the next flagship CPU comes. But that will be in another period of time- not at MWC. Not for us or any other player. I can tell you that for sure. When the new CPU comes, HTC will have another flagship.

Although Snapdragon 835 isn't mentioned by name, that's surely what's being referred to here.

Chang's comments seem to back up the basis of another recent report stating that the LG G6 would use a Snapdragon 821, because Samsung's Galaxy S8 would have first dibs on the 835 as soon as debuted in April. Given the timings for other vendors getting their hands on the new chip, it'd seem the next HTC flagship — the direct successor to the HTC 10 — could be ready sometime in the second quarter of 2017.

However, with the Ultra not shipping in major markets like the United States until mid-March, the timings could turn out to be tricky for a company that's already struggling to maintain interest in its phones.

More: HTC U Ultra hands-on preview