Sometimes I long for the smartphone days of yore, when brands like HTC offered compelling products instead of throwaway phones. Be careful what you wish for, I guess. Just one year after launching a bizarre blockchain phone, HTC is now developing a smartphone for the metaverse.

Well, maybe “metaverse” isn’t the right word. During MWC 2022, HTC announced the Viveverse, a mixed reality platform and the “next step” for its Vive VR headset. An early teaser video suggests that the Viveverse is a more practical and secure take on Facebook’s metaverse—I fail to see a major difference between the concepts, though.

The new HTC smartphone, which the company teased in a conversation with DigiTimes Asia, will help support this Viveverse ecosystem. HTC confirms that the phone is “high-end,” which is reassuring, though it hasn’t shared any serious details or confirmed any specs.

In other words, we don’t know if this smartphone packs any AR or VR functionality. We expect it to integrate with HTC Vive headsets, though to be honest, we’re not sure how such integration would work.

Our best guess is that the HTC “metaverse” phone is an enterprise-oriented device. You know, something for businesses that use Vive headsets, such as Adidas or Bugatti. Unfortunately, we won’t know the details until HTC launches its phone later this year.

Source: DigiTimes Asia via Android Authority