HTC may be best known for making smartphones, but the company entered the virtual reality space in 2016 with the release of the HTC Vive VR system.
Now it looks like the company may be bringing the Vive brand to an upcoming smartphone. Or something.
HTC hasn’t made any officially announcements about the new phone yet, but Evan Blass posted a leaked promotional video from HTC which includes a glimpse of a phone with the HTC Vive name and logo on the back.
Most of the video focuses on HTC’s efforts to develop phones with new materials, textures, and other design elements that help them stand out visually. So it’s possible the only thing special about the Vive phone is its name.
But it’s also possible that the phone is designed with virtual reality in mind. It’s not clear if that means it’ll be compatible with Google’s Daydream platform, or if HTC plans to launch its own VR system.
That’s exactly what rival Samsung has been doing for the past few years. Samsung partnered with Oculus to develop a headset called Samsung Gear VR which is compatible with the latest high-end Samsung smartphones, and which, among other things, allows you to play games, watch videos, and stream content from Netflix in a virtual reality environment.
HTC 2017? pic.twitter.com/ppONWlT5Mr
— Evan Blass (@evleaks) January 8, 2017
