HTC co-founder Cher Wang: 5G will lead to new shapes for smartphones

HTC co-founder and chairwoman Cher Wang made some interesting comments that were posted on the manufacturer's Instagram account today. Talking about the upcoming move to next-gen 5G connectivity, the executive stated that as 5G reduces the demand on these devices to provide computing power, the shape of a typical smartphone will change to "other forms" from the rectangle based design that handsets now offer.

Wang's company has problems, and while the HTC U11 was a big step forward for the manufacturer, it has the same seven-letter problem every year. Samsung. To be fair, LG and other Android producers that sell flagship models in the U.S. have to deal with the world's largest smartphone manufacturer, not to forget Apple. But even if we focus solely on Android, HTC needs to find the innovative spark that brought us the HTC EVO 4G and the HTC One (M7). Edge Sense was different, but squeezing the sides of a phone to open the camera or an app is not going to drive sales.

So even though it has been a major struggle for Wang (the stock has dropped in Taiwan from the equivalent of $44.44 USD to $2.09 USD in nearly seven years) and HTC continues to bleed red ink mightily, the fact that Wang is talking smartphones and 5G seems to bode well for fans of the company, worried that it might just give up the ghost. Of course, it helped that HTC received $1.1 billion from Google at the beginning of the year when the deal that sent HTC's smartphone design division to Google closed. Now, it's time to use that cash to design smartphones so different, that HTC can be relevant at the flagship level once again. And to that end, it sounds like Wang can push HTC in the right direction.


source: HTC