The metaverse and AI have been gaining a lot of popularity. From mobile launch events to weddings, everything is slowly shifting to the metaverse. Although it seems that the metaverse will be a big part of the future, companies are tirelessly working to make this a reality.
In 2017, HTC sold a portion of its smartphone operations to Google for $1.1 billion and merged its smartphone and VR divisions. But the company did not address any plans to quit the smartphone segment.
HTC has announced at the MWC 2022 (Mobile World Congress) that it will launch the first Metaverse phone. The company was once upon a time a leading smartphone producer in the world and is attempting to make a comeback in the smartphone sector.
Charles Huang, HTC Asia-Pacific general manager told DigiTimes that the company is looking to launch a “metaverse phone’ in April that may be powerful enough to drive AR and VR devices. Most tech giants like Google and Samsung have failed to deliver this idea, but HTC seems to have a considerable amount of experience in the PC VR space and if it can bring this to mobile phones, it will be a huge development in the metaverse space. This phone will be targeted to customers who wish to access VR and AR Apps and it will also leverage its other VR devices like VR headsets, the VIVE Focus 3 and VIVE Pro 2. HTC did not share any specific details about the metaverse phone.
The VIVERSE Brand
At the MWC 2022, the company also showcased its developments in 5G, location-based entertainment and in-car virtual reality (VR). It also announced its new brand- VIVERSE. HTC Co-Founder and Chairwoman, Cher Wang, elaborated that Vive stands for life and verse means the chapters of life, this meaning aligns with the vision of these new devices. VIVERSE is HTC’s venture into the metaverse which aims to provide a secure and immersive environment to everyone.
At this point in time, the experience HTC is offering is similar to other metaverses. So, it is too soon to predict the future of VIVERSE. One problem we can point out at this stage is the fragmentation of metaverses. The question is, with so many companies launching their metaverse, how many of them will make it to the finish line?