The eagerly awaited HTC One follow-on will be officially unveiled in February 2014 before going on sale the following month, a UK judge has leaked.
The handset, currently going under the codename of the HTC M8, or more sceptically the HTC One Two, was discussed during a recent court case which yesterday saw the spinoff HTC One Mini banned from sale in the UK for having imposed on a Nokia held patent.
In his official published ruling, Judge Richard Arnold has stated that February and March of next year will be a “vulnerable” period for the Taiwanese manufacturer as the HTC One replacement is unveiled and launched across global retailers.
According to the judge, Nokia presented evidence that a HTC One follow-on is on the horizon, with the Finnish phone making using the details in an attempt to have the flagship One pulled from shelves ahead of the lucrative Christmas period.
Responding to the evidence, Judge Arnold refused to be drawn on the possibility that the upcoming handset would also infringe on the Nokia held chipset patent which has caused the HTC One Mini to be barred from sale.
"HTC will shortly be launching a new flagship phone which cannot be assumed to infringe and therefore be caught by the injunction,” the judge declared.
He added: "Nevertheless, I accept that there is a period between now and February or March 2014 when HTC is vulnerable."
A number of HTC M8 rumours have started doing the rounds in recent weeks, with the future flagship phone expected to benefit from a new design hewn from a single, hinge-less piece of metal.
Next, read all the latest Samsung Galaxy S5 news and rumours
Via: BBC
