HTC’s smartwatch plans reportedly cancelled

Smartwatches are all the rage, especially at IFA this week, where Samsung, LG, Asus, and others showed their wares. The Moto 360 launched today in the States, and Apple may reveal its iWatch next week. So where’s HTC in all of this?

Apparently nowhere close, if a report from Pocket-lint is any indication. Sources tell the site that HTC’s plans to launch its own wearable device have been abandoned, likely due to rising costs and a seeming lack of a strong hook for consumers.

HTC’s watch would have reportedly reworked the Qualcomm Toq, which uses colour E-Ink, but the bulky design and lacking screen quality if that device seem particularly dated now, especially with great Android Wear devices launching en masse.

We’ve seen and heard a bit about HTC’s plans in the past, first through reports back in February. Then in July, an official video “accidentally” showed a watch sitting on an employee’s desk. The company claimed it was just a prototype, but then famed tech leaker evleaks dropped the above “artist reproduction” that gave an unofficial look at what was reportedly planned.

If smartwatches catch on like the tech giants of the world surely hope they do, then we can’t imagine that HTC will stay out of the game for long. Assuming the report is true, it appears the company just isn’t ready to make that leap quite yet.

[Sources: Pocket-lint, evleaks]

READ MORE: HTC ‘accidentally’ reveals smartwatch in official video