HTC | The Verge

The Trump phone sure looks a lot like this HTC handset

2026-02-27T17:46:28-05:00

The HTC U24 Pro may not be gold, but its design is otherwise awfully similar to the Trump phone’s. | Image: HTC

Where's the Trump phone? We're going to keep talking about it every week. We've reached out, as usual, to ask about the Trump phone's whereabouts, and have stopped getting a response. This week, thanks to a reader tip, we think we've found the original phone the T1 is based on.

A long time ago, back when the Trump phone was but a single, inaccurate render and a contradictory spec sheet, we tried to figure out what other phone it might be based on. Now, eight months, two spec overhauls, and one redesign later, I have a good guess: the HTC U24 Pro.

I didn't spot this by myself. A reader first tipped me off to the similarities between the U24 …

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HTC announces the Vive Focus Vision with color passthrough and an eye on gaming

2024-09-18T14:04:20-04:00

The Focus Vision looks like it’s a bit of a chonker! | Image: HTC

HTC has announced the Vive Focus Vision, a new VR headset that builds on the Vive Focus 3 with features like color passthrough and better PC tethering support. The $999 Focus Vision is available for preorder from now until October 17th on HTC's website.

The Focus Vision can be used either as a standalone device or tethered to your PC using USB-C. It's essentially a beefed-up version of the Focus 3, which the company released in 2021 - it has the same 2448 x 2448 per-eye resolution and 120-degree field of view and also uses a Snapdragon XR2 chip. But it gains features like dual 16MP cameras with color passthrough, and it can now automaticall …

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HTC’s Vive Ultimate Trackers are a sleeker way to keep tabs on your VR limbs and other objects

2023-11-29T08:36:51-05:00

HTC's Vive Ultimate Tracker is a new VR peripheral that's designed to track body parts like your feet or any other object you want to strap it to, the company has announced. First teased at GDC earlier this year, the Vive Ultimate Tracker is now available to buy starting at $199.

Although HTC has been producing VR trackers for years to work alongside its headsets, the Vive Ultimate Tracker is its first to support inside-out tracking, meaning it works without the need for the cumbersome external base stations used with older headsets. That means the Vive Ultimate Tracker can work seamlessly with all-in-one headsets like the Vive XR Elite or …

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HTC’s Vive Focus 3 has a new, far-out mission: astronaut mental health

2023-11-02T08:00:00-04:00

Testing the HTC Vive Focus 3 during a European Space Agency parabolic flight. | Image: Novespace

HTC is going to space. The company announced today that on a planned November 7th NASA resupply launch, a tweaked, microgravity-friendly version of its Vive Focus 3 VR headset will be sent to the International Space Station. Once it's there, Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen will test the Focus 3's viability for helping alleviate the mental stress that NASA says comes from the "lack of privacy, high and variable workloads, and separation from loved ones" inherent to work in space.

HTC partnered with a virtual reality therapy company called XRHealth to work on a "virtual assistance mental balance initiative" by aeronautics R&D company Nord-S …

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HTC’s new VR / AR headset is the $1,099 Vive XR Elite

2023-01-05T13:00:00-05:00

The HTC Vive XR Elite. | Image: HTC

HTC is opening preorders for a new virtual and augmented reality headset, the Vive XR Elite. The XR Elite is a $1,099 standalone headset that's designed to compete with Meta's Quest headsets and the rumored Apple AR / VR device. Shipping in late February worldwide, it supports the gamut of consumer games and software HTC has offered on past VR headsets, plus mixed reality experiences using full-color passthrough video.

The Vive XR Elite is aimed at consumers who want games, passive media, and productivity tools in a relatively lightweight package. HTC promised a small and light design, and the XR Elite weighs in at 625 grams, making it heav …

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HTC will announce a lightweight Meta Quest competitor at CES

2022-12-16T08:40:00-05:00

The yet unnamed HTC headset. | Image: HTC

HTC plans to introduce a new flagship AR / VR headset next month that will reestablish its presence in the consumer virtual reality space. The company isn't planning to release full details until CES on January 5th. But HTC global head of product Shen Ye spoke exclusively with The Verge about what it's trying to achieve with its new design: a small, light all-in-one headset that promises full-featured virtual and augmented reality.

"It's about taking all of these advances that we made in not only the design aspects, but also the technology aspects, and building it into something that's meaningful and that's appealing for consumers," Ye says …

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Phones from and made by Google: a visual history of the Pixel and its predecessors

2022-10-06T13:51:18-04:00

The 2016 Google Pixel next to the 2017 Google Pixel 2. This is the midpoint in Google’s journey of delivering phones by Google. | Photo by Vlad Savov / The Verge

Several years ago, if someone told you they had an Android phone, then it would have been safe to assume they were not talking about Google's Pixel. Until recently, "Android" had a much stronger association with hardware from Samsung, OnePlus, Huawei, or even LG when it was still making phones. But that mindset may finally be shifting as the Google Pixel slowly gains more name recognition among the Galaxies of the world.

The goal of the Pixel is to bring out the best of Android and invite manufacturers and consumers to see what Google's operating system could - and perhaps even should - look like. After all, the iPhone's always been known f …

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HTC teases a new smaller Vive VR headset

2022-10-06T09:31:57-04:00

HTC Vive VR teaser: “go small or go home.”

While Meta and TikTok owner ByteDance battle to be the premium social media / metaverse company making virtual or augmented reality hardware, HTC is reminding everyone that it has a place in the game, too. Without providing any extra details, it released this simple teaser tweet on Thursday morning, promising to "go small or go home."

A brief HTC press release sent to The Verge described the tweet as a teaser for "a new headset" and noted that it's been a year since the Vive Flow - HTC's early stab at a consumer VR headset that looks (sort of) like sunglasses. It references the Flow as the "first" headset made under Project Proton, a super- …

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HTC quietly announced a new Android tablet — and nobody noticed

2022-07-05T11:28:21-04:00

The HTC A101. | Image: HTC

HTC, the once-impressive Android smartphone manufacturer, has a surprise tablet to accompany its bizarre metaverse-focused Desire 22 Pro. The new A101 is an Android tablet with a 10.1-inch display, entry-level specs, and a design that's straight out of the middle of the last decade. The device, which we spotted via AndroidPolice, appears to have been quietly announced last month - according to the Wayback Machine - and is aimed at the African market. It follows the A100 tablet, which was launched in Russia last year to a similar non-reaction.

Given that the tablet appears to be marketed solely at emerging markets, I don't want to be too sna …

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HTC’s smartphone division limps on with metaverse-focused Desire 22 Pro

2022-06-28T04:35:14-04:00

The HTC Desire 22 Pro. | Image: HTC

It hasn't released a competitive flagship device in years, but HTC's smartphone division isn't throwing in the towel just yet. Today it announced the HTC Desire 22 Pro, a follow-up to last year's HTC Desire 21 Pro, and the company's big attempt at capitalizing on the so-called metaverse. In the UK, it's listed at £399 and will ship on August 1st.

There are a couple of different aspects to the phone's metaverse functionality. To start with, it's designed to be the "perfect companion" to HTC's recently announced Vive Flow VR headset and used to access Viverse, HTC's take on the metaverse. The headset is designed to work with any Android phone …

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