As rumored, HTC today unveiled its new flagship smartphone, The One, at press events in New York and London.
The phone was shown off along with an update to HTC’s Sense UI that turns the phone’s homepage into a live-updating series of panels called “Blink Feed” that will be fed by thousands of content providers like CBS, ESPN and more, according to Engadget’s live blog of the announcement.
CEO Peter Chou turned up at the London event, touting The One’s new UI.
A press release detailed HTC Zoe, a camera functionality that automatically shoots video and photos simultaneously, and Boom Sound, dual front speakers. It also noted the phone’s 4.7-inch 1080p screen with 468ppi, its Android Jelly Bean OS, LTE-capability and aluminum unibody.
A successful launch of the HTC’s new flagship smartphone is crucial in light of recent financial and global market share slides for the company.
HTC’s fourth quarter profit for 2012 dipped to $34.4 million, down from $379 million at the same time the year prior, which did beat the street at $24 million. But declining margins guidance for the first quarter of 2013—between 0.5 and 1 percent, compared to 1 percent annually—caused HTC’s stock to plummet four percent earlier this month.
The handset maker’s share of the global smartphone market took a hit as well, down to 4.6 percent of the total market at the end of 2012 as compared with the 10.3 percent HTC controlled at the end of 2011.
The HTC One is planned for global release in March and will be available in the U.S. on AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile.