“HTC is now believed to be launching a mid-range smartphone in China on June 11th, which has come as a surprise for everyone.”

Smartphone launch events happen pretty much round the year now, but the word of an upcoming event in China has surprised many. After lying dormant and believed to have pretty much exited the smartphone business, HTC has shared a teaser for an event that is scheduled for June 11th. It does come a bit out of the blue, and unlike other phone companies, which see multiple devices cropping up on benchmarking sites and certification authority listings all the time, there’s very little to go on in terms of speculating what HTC has on the cards.

PhoneRadar has caught wind of one HTC smartphone that recently cropped up on AnTuTu, and believes that the launch might be pertaining to this very device. Codenamed HTC 2Q7A100, the smartphone is reported to feature mid-range specifications but there seems to be nothing that fits the bill for a stunning comeback of any sort. According to the benchmark listing, the smartphone in question is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 SoC, coupled with 6GB of memory. There is 128GB of native storage, while the display panel is said to be a 6-inch, full-HD+ panel with 18:9 aspect ratio. PhoneArena believes that the display will be devoid of any notch, and instead use broad bezels at the top to accommodate a single-unit front camera.

The smartphone has been tipped to be called the HTC U19e, which sort of certifies that it will not be a part of the company’s flagship Exodus range, which was the last device to have been launched from its stable. The U19e is expected to run Android 9.0 Pie out of the box. HTC’s Sense UI should also be a part of the ensemble, while there has been no mention of what battery capacity might it come with.

Given the ‘e’ moniker attached to the smartphone’s name, it is likely that this smartphone will be a low-power variant of the flagship U19 device, which may be launched later this year with the Snapdragon 855 inside. HTC, once a pioneer of the touchscreen mobile phone era, was critically appreciated until it began losing out to the competition with mediocre performance, specifications, and low value-for-money proposition. The brand has been around even after the demise of its smartphone business, primarily through the Vive range of virtual reality products. The HTC Vive has seen a reasonably strong response and has been put in use by many gaming arenas that deliver the thrills of VR gaming.

There is no information so far in terms of the pricing or availability of the brand’s smartphones, which should become clear once the keynote is held on June 11th. HTC has also not clarified the markets where the brand might be launching the said U19e, although it is unlikely that HTC will bring the phone to India.