HTC denies that it’s making an Android Wear smartwatch

Rumors of an HTC-built Android Wear watch have been circling for months, including recent photos of an Under Armour-branded prototype from last week. But HTC seems to be squashing those rumors today, with a statement made to Android Police from HTC — “We're not going to have an Android watch” — seemingly denying those rumors.

HTC has been rumored to be working on an Android Wear smartwatch since summer 2014, when a square smartwatch prototype made an appearance in an HTC design video. Then, after over two years of radio silence, photos leaked of a new, circular “Halfbeak” prototype with Under Armour and HTC branding late last year; this seemed to indicate that there might be an HTC Android Wear watch coming after all. 

Furthermore, according to Android Police, an unnamed source claimed that the Halfbeak prototype that had been making the rounds was an older prototype that hasn’t been in development for some time, although those reports remain unconfirmed by HTC. 

It’s worth noting that there is some wiggle room in HTC’s statement as well — the company says that HTC will not have an Android Wear watch, which doesn’t necessarily preclude HTC manufacturing one for say, Google to sell under its own branding, similar to the Google Pixel. But in any event, it’s another major Android manufacturer that seems to be sitting out on Android Wear, which could be concerning for Google as it begins to roll out the major 2.0 version of its wearable platform in a few weeks.

The article was published on : theverge