There must surely have been a few sore heads and dodgy tummies after HTC’s end of year bash in Taipei at the weekend – not to mention some leaked photos and videos of the company’s new phone, the M7 - dubbed as HTC’s new Galaxy-busting ‘flagship’ handset. Whoops-a-daisy.
Video footage has leaked of CEO Peter Chou leading the room in chanting ‘HTC’, ‘M7’ and ‘One X’ while snapping pix of his employees on the new M7. What a partay. “This event today is a great opportunity for testing [the camera]" said Chou. This guy has definitely got that work/life balance down to a tee.
Leaks of the office do’s crazy antics means that there are images of the new – and up until now very elusive - handset online before its official launch date on 19th February (at simultaneous events in both New York and London). Chou is seen holding both a black and a silver version of the handset during the festivities - which do look like the photos leaked earlier this month:
Although still tantalisingly enigmatic, some information is doing the rounds: the phone apparently has a 4.7inch 1080p display, a 13 megapixel camera and runs on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. There are also rumours accompanying this leak that there are two more handsets in the pipeline – dubbed the M4 and the G2 (the M4 is described as junior to the M7 in a similar way to the One S and One X); so a whole family of new HTC smartphones is ready to be born onto the already bustling scene. How very exciting!
But this is all frivolous intrigue and mystery alone, my friends. What we are sure of is HTC’s need to pick up sales in 2013. Despite having a booming, some-might-say-crazy 2011, 2012 was a disappointment. In the third quarter HTC only had 4% of the global smartphone market (in contrast to Samsung’s 31%), while it’s shipments were down 42.5% from the same period in 2011. A hangover, indeed – HTC are getting quite adept at those, wouldn’t you say?
Having said this, upbeat party-animal/CEO Chou stated earlier this month in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that the “worst for HTC has probably passed” Let’s hope he’s right. “Our competitors were too strong and very resourceful, pouring lots of money into marketing. We haven't done enough on the marketing front." I'm glad they've seen the error of their ways and ensured the first images of their new baby were revealed in such a classy way. Win.
But we’re certainly looking forward to getting our hands on the new M7. If you’re lucky enough to be waiting for one then sell your old phone with us at OnRecycle. We’ll find you the best price – guaranteed! If you’re happy with our service then don’t forget to ‘like’ us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter. You’ll get all the latest from the world of technology then, too)
