HTC U-Branded Smartphone Set to Launch on November 2; More HTC U11 Plus, U11 Life Details Emerge

HTC on Thursday posted on Twitter that it was planning to bring back the "BrilliantU", further teasing that it intends to unveil at least one U-branded premium smartphone on November 2. The teaser from the Taiwanese handset manufacturer comes after local media reported that the company was sending press invites for an event early next month.

According to various listings and speculation, HTC is supposedly working on two U-branded smartphones. There is the HTC U11 Plus, which is supposedly an upgraded version of the HTC U11 flagship smartphone that the company unveiled earlier this year. Then there is the HTC U11 Life, a purported Android One smartphone with mid-range specifications.

While there hasn't been much talk about the HTC U11 Life in the last few days, several more HTC U11 Plus images and purported details about its specifications have been spotted online. According to Twitter user LlabTooFer, who is notorious for leaks of upcoming devices, the HTC U11 will be a little thicker than some of the recently launched flagship smartphones. The company, LlabTooFer said, is going for a 9.1mm thick body to house a considerably large 4000mAh battery. In line with earlier reports, the HTC U11 Plus' display will see "some minor increase in X-Y-Z dimensions" compared to HTC U11's 5.5-inch display. Earlier reports suggest that the HTC U11 Plus will have a 5.99-inch display with a screen resolution of 1440 x 2880 pixels and an 18:9 aspect ratio.

According to a listing that appeared on benchmark website Geekbench earlier this week, an HTC model, presumably, the HTC U11 Plus, will have 4GB of RAM, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC, and run Android 8.0 operating system. According to earlier reports, there will be a second variant of the HTC U11 with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage.

The HTC U11 Life, for a refresh, is expected to feature mid-range specifications such as a 5.2-inch display, a Snapdragon 630 SoC, and 16-megapixel camera sensors on front and back. The HTC U11 Life is also expected to come in two variants, with one carrying 3GB of RAM and 32GB of inbuilt storage, while the other variant housing a 4GB of RAM and 64GB of inbuilt storage. It is expected to be priced at around $400.