Yesterday HTC announced that they were changing their strategy for 2014, by putting more emphasis on mid-range devices. Now, just a day later, images of the Desire 8, one of the company’s upcoming mid-range handsets have leaked online.
The image above was leaked on a Chinese site and has since been confirmed by Engadget to represent an actual device that HTC will launch soon. It’s named the Desire 8 and it seems to be a phablet-type device, having a large 5.5-inch screen. Its resolution is currently unknown.
As you can see in the image above, the Desire 8 takes some familiar design cues from recent HTC products. The body, though similar in design to the One series, will most likely be made out of polycarbonate, and will come in a variety of colors including white, red, yellow, orange and cyan.
The handset will also reportedly feature a 13-megapixel camera alongside a 5-megapixel front facing shooter. Neither of these will use the Ultrapixel technology that’s common to high-end HTC handsets.
This handset is rumoured to launch on March 18th but may also be shown off in a couple of weeks at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. In either case, HTC seems to be taking its new strategy very seriously and if priced appropriately this device may actually prove to be a hit.
Update: This story has pretty much been confirmed by HTC themselves. The company has posted a teaser for the upcoming Desire 8 on Weibo. The teaser features the exact same image you see above, and while the specs of the device are still unconfirmed it"s obvious they"re very close to the mark. There"s little new info on when the device might launch. The company seems to be taunting Beijing February 24th as a possible launch date but the original March reveal is still a strong possibility.