HTC U-Series Smartphone Teased to Sport Bezel-Less Display Ahead of Thursday Launch

  

HIGHLIGHTS

• The official teaser showcases minimal bezels on the new U series handset
• The teaser also confirms the absence of a front-facing home button
• The HTC U11 Life would be the first by the company to support 18:9 aspect

Days ahead of its official announcement, HTC has teased the presence of a bezel-less display on its upcoming U Series smartphone. The new smartphone is likely to be the mid-range HTC U11 Life that would help the Taiwanese company take on LG, Samsung, and Xiaomi that all are offering their new models with minimal bezels. The company is launching the handset on November 2.

According to the teaser posted by HTC through its official Twitter account, the company is preparing the launch of the bezel-less smartphone. The teaser reads, "You'll believe it all on 11.02.2017." It also includes an image that apparently gives a glimpse of the new launch - sporting thin bezels around its display. Notably, the image also suggests no front-facing home button on the new U series smartphone, unlike the previously launched HTC U11, U Play, and U Ultra that all had a fingerprint scanner-equipped home button on the front.

The absence of the front-facing button on the new teaser suggests that the new HTC U-Series smartphone would have a home button on the rear with a fingerprint scanner - as the spotted in the first teaser that just emerged last week. The previous teaser also confirmed that the handset will not move along with the ongoing trend of dual-camera smartphones and will include a single primary camera sensor on the back, along with an LED flash. The smartphone will also have a secondary, noise-cancellation microphone.

Initially, HTC was rumoured to launch the U11 Plus and U11 Life at its November event. Prolific tipster Evan Blass, however, last week claimed that the company is planning to launch only the U11 Life. A Geekbench listing surfaced ahead of the Blass claim, revealing a Snapdragon 660 chipset on the new HTC smartphone along with 3GB of RAM. The benchmark listing also pointed to Android 7.1.1 Nougat that would be furnished with a custom HTC skin on top.

The HTC U11 Life is expected to have squeezable edges -- identical to the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL -- as well as a metal body with a glossy finish, similar to the HTC U11. The smartphone would be the first by the company to support 18:9 aspect ratio on the bezel-less display panel.