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HTC Canceled Plans for Windows Phone 8 Phablet

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There had been speculations that HTC was working on a third Windows Phone 8 model–in addition to the HTC 8X and 8S–with a phablet-sized display, and it turns out that the Taiwan smartphone-maker was and had subsequently canceled plans for such a device. Sources say that HTC CEO Peter Chou ultimately made the decision to cancel production of the model, citing that such a device would not be competitive against Android smartphone models.

Ihtc-titan-ii-iconn a report on Bloomberg, that source said that the limitation of Windows Phone supporting around a 720p HD resolution is ultimately what caused the change in plans. A larger display size would necessitate a higher resolution panel as Android devices are now coming with 1080p full HD resolution panels, and the company’s HTC Droid DNA is among the first of such Android smartphones to support this new high resolution panel in a 5-inch display.

So far, we haven’t heard any comments from Microsoft nor HTC officially regarding this matter. Microsoft had recently published an Xbox Live user survey making mention of a Titan III model, but later amended the survey to remove the device’s mention, citing a ‘typo.’ The HTC Titan line for AT&T in the U.S. represents a Windows Phone family that had a large display, and the initial Titan III typo gave so hope that a third HTC Windows Phone 8 model may be coming to market with a large screen display.

Early HTC Windows Phone product roadmap leaks suggest that HTC was working on a third model called the HTC Zenith in addition to the models that became the HTC 8X and HTC 8S phones.

The company is also rumored to be making a 1080p full HD resolution smartphone with a smaller footprint than the current 5-inch panel on the HTC Droid DNA. That model is believed to succeed the HTC One X series flagship and may launch at Mobile World Congress.

It seems at this time that the tight platform and hardware restrictions imposed by Microsoft for Windows Phone 8 is definitely helping to minimize fragmentation on the platform, but at the same token, Microsoft must do some forward-thinking when it lays down its hardware restrictions to help companies like HTC compete against other platforms, like the Android ecosystem.

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