HTC is rumored to be working on three new smartphones that could be part of its Ocean lineup. A source with a good track record claims the company is testing three smartphones.
It looked as if Samsung had a huge hit on its hands with its Galaxy Note 7 phablet. Reviewers praised the device for its high end specs, innovative design and most declared it an iPhone 7 Plus killer. Things quickly changed, however, shortly after the Note 7 began making its way into consumer's hands.
There were several reports of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 bursting into flames and the company had to issue a worldwide recall. Samsung has already begun replacing the Note 7 but some users are claiming the new handsets are overheating and experiencing battery drain while charging. Samsung's recall is not only having a negative impact on sales of the Note 7, reports also claim consumer confidence is down and that is pushing potential Samsung customers to smartphones made by its rivals.
While Apple's iPhone 7 Plus is certainly benefitting from Samsung's Note 7 recall, Android licensees like LG and HTC stand to attract Samsung customers. LG is about to release its second flagship device of 2016, the LG V20, which will be the first handset to ship with Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box.
T-Mobile has listed the handset as "coming soon" and other major carriers are expected to offer the phablet in the coming weeks. HTC also stands to gain Samsung detractors and its work with Google on its upcoming Pixel and Pixel XL will show off its design prowess, and the company's rumored Ocean handsets could highlight its innovation with a new user interface.
We recently reported that an HTC designer posted a video of a smartphone codenamed HTC Ocean, which features a touch-sensitive frame that allows users to interact with the handset using its metal frame to control volume, scroll web pages and more with gestures without using physical buttons or touching the smartphone's display.
While HTC's designer claims the HTC Ocean and Sense Touch is only a concept, a source who goes by the handle LlabTooFeR claims the company is working on three new smartphones. The codenames of the unannounced handsets are Ocean Master, Ocean Note and Ocean Smart.
The tipster provides no other information but some believe the Ocean Master is likely a new flagship smartphone that could possibly replace the HTC 10, while the Ocean Note could be a phablet to take on the Galaxy Note 7, and the Ocean Smart could be a midrange smartphone.
It will be interesting to see if HTC does indeed release a series of devices that one of its designers gave the world a look at before the company intended. We'll keep you posted on any new HTC Ocean news as it becomes available.
