HTC's smartwatch lives!

HTC Smartwatch
Can we still expect HTC to launch a smartwatch?

Reports of the death of HTC's smartwatch might have been greatly exaggerated. According to a source close HTC who contacted Cnet, the Taiwanese company is still working on its own smartwatch and is planning to launch it in early 2015.

Whilst it came as little surprise that Apple would enter the wearable market with the launch of the Apple Watch, HTC is a company whose entry into wearables is slightly more difficult to predict.

At the beginning of September we heard that HTC may have abandoned its smartwatch plans. The reasons given included rising costs and an increasingly competitive market, which HTC felt it couldn't compete in.

Watch out, Apple's about

At the time that news of HTC dropping its plans for its smartwatch surfaced HTC refused to comment, and it's keeping similarly tight lipped about this latest twist.

The timing of HTC's decision to continue in a market it once considered too competitive is certainly interesting, since the market has recently seen a new competitor, in the shape of Apple, emerge.

As with smartwatches such as the LG G Watch R and the Moto 360, HTC's smartwatch is expected to run on Google's Android Wear.

However exact specifics of the smartwatch, or if it will even see the light of day, are still thin on the ground until HTC tells us more. It's hosting an event on October 8, but it's doubtful that we'll hear anything about the smartwatch there.

Matt Hanson
Managing Editor, Core Tech

Matt is TechRadar's Managing Editor for Core Tech, looking after computing and mobile technology. Having written for a number of publications such as PC Plus, PC Format, T3 and Linux Format, there's no aspect of technology that Matt isn't passionate about, especially computing and PC gaming. Ever since he got an Amiga A500+ for Christmas in 1991, he's loved using (and playing on) computers, and will talk endlessly about how The Secret of Monkey Island is the best game ever made.