HTC are currently preparing a number of new devices and one of these carries the project name of “Alpine.” This device has just passed through the Bluetooth SIG (Special Interests Group) Certification process. At this juncture, we still cannot be sure what model the Alpine is but the Bluetooth Certification document provides us with the clue that the device comes with Bluetooth 4.2. One of HTC’s other new 2017 devices is said to be based around the MediaTek Helio P10 System-on-Chip, which does not support Bluetooth 4.2. With this in mind, the new HTC Alpine device is more likely to be based around a Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset, but the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 flagship chip supports the very latest Bluetooth 5 technology. As such, the new HTC Alpine appears to be another mid-range device. We have seen a number of potential device names used in association with HTC’s up and coming devices, such as the HTC U Play or even the HTC 11: the HTC Alpine is shaping up to be the HTC U Play rather than the next HTC flagship device, believed to be the HTC 11.
One source that we can perhaps lend more weight to is prolific HTC leakster, @onleaks, who Tweeted only a few days ago that the HTC Alpine is indeed the HTC U Play smartphone and provided some scarce specification details. The HTC Alpine is based around a 5.2-inch display and drops the 3.5mm headphone socket, something of an industry trend at present. The handset is believed to include curved glass, which the industry has taken to mean the edges will be curved rather than the front. The Twitter source, @onleaks, did also Tweet that these rumors come from an “unconfirmed source,” so it’s impossible to gauge the accuracy.
HTC have a “U” themed event on January 12, later this week, and this should bring us some clarity as to their next generation of devices. If the HTC Alpine is indeed a new mid-range device, there is a good chance it will be unveiled this week. It will also be interesting to see how it stacks up with the other devices and what design clues and language we might expect the HTC 11 to take when it is unveiled later in the year.