It seems that the trend these days in the world of smartphones is to get rid of the headphone jack, and it appears that HTC is following suite with two of their next three devices. According to OnLeaks, the HTC Ocean Note and HTC Alpine (rumored to be marketed as the HTC U Ultra and HTC U Play, respectively), will not have a headphone jack. But that the HTC E66 (to be marketed as the HTC One X10) will have one. This wouldn’t be the first smartphone from the Taiwanese manufacturer to be without a headphone jack either, as the HTC 10 evo (or HTC Bolt here in the US) shipped without a headphone jack.
This means that users will need to get used to using Bluetooth headphones or carry around a USB-C to 3.5mm dongle to be able to listen to their favorite tunes on the go. However, remember that with that dongle, you likely won’t be able to charge your device at the same time. Which could become an issue for many people. The HTC U Ultra and U Play are expected to be announced later this week, by the smartphone maker, so all should be revealed on Thursday, January 12th.
HTC hasn’t been having a great past few years, as far as selling smartphones and making money goes. In fact, this morning it was reported that they have hit their lowest revenue in 11 years. And that 2016 as a whole has seen a decline of 35%. That’s a pretty big deal for HTC, especially since they were the company to really get Android started with the HTC G1 (or T-Mobile Dream in the US) and then the Nexus One. Hopefully HTC is able to turn it around in 2017, and these three new smartphones can help them return to profitability. The HTC One X10, U Ultra and U Play are looking to be pretty decent devices. But what is going to make these devices sell is going to be the prices of these smartphones. HTC likes to charge a premium on their devices, like the HTC 10, but that hasn’t worked out well for them in recent years.