Earlier this week, new pictures emerged of HTC"s new smartwatch, codenamed "Halfbeak". It was the second time that photos of the device had surfaced in recent months, following a similar leak in October. However, it"s now emerged that that device has been cancelled, and the company apparently has no plans to launch a similar device anytime soon.
In an interview published today by Tbreak.com, Chialin Chang, President of HTC"s Smartphone and Connected Device division, made it very clear that the company is no longer pursuing development of its Halfbeak smartwatch, which was based on Google"s Android Wear OS:
I can tell you that we"re not going to have an Android watch. I don"t think we"ve nailed it with [the experience of] watches. Android watch is one thing but even Apple as a big brand is declining [in watches]. We are not going to have a watch in the short term.
After an early burst of popularity, global smartwatch shipments have declined sharply in recent quarters, so it"s not surprising that HTC has apparently lost its enthusiasm for such devices.
Last May, HTC"s watch was rumored to have been delayed until later in the year. However, an unnamed source told Android Police today that the company hadn"t been actively working on the device for quite some time.
Separately, a source speaking with 9to5Google said that the HTC device seen in the recent photos was an "internal prototype model", adding that it "worked really well, but [had] terrible battery life."
Source: Tbreak.com