HTC U23 Pro review

introduction

It’s been a hot minute since we’ve seen an HTC phone in the GSMArena office. Chances are, many of you haven’t even seen many HTC phones out there. It is difficult to accurately pinpoint the current status of the former Taiwanese giant’s smartphone research, production and production. You may recall that after partnering heavily with Google on the Pixel line, HTC sold about half of its research and design talent and non-exclusive rights to smartphone-related intellectual property to Google in 2017 for $1.1 billion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOB0i5dcwgY

Since then, HTC-branded phones have been few and far between and mostly in the budget price segment. Many of these rare Wildfire and Desire branded phones were also exclusive to the company’s Taiwanese market. We’re not even sure who’s making these and all of the current HTC devices like the U23 Pro that we have to review today.

Historically, HTC manufactured all of its phones in its own factories. As far as we’ve been able to find out, that hasn’t been the case since at least 2020, when the company began outsourcing some of its manufacturing to Taiwan-based contract manufacturer Compal Electronics Inc. and China’s Wingtech Group. Our HTC U23 Pro unit claims to be made “In China,” which could be mainland China or potentially Taiwan, depending on your interpretation. The truth is, we don’t really know, and the fact that we’re seeing an HTC phone with what appears to be international release is surprising enough.

HTC U23 Pro specs at a glance:

• Body: 166.6×77.1×8.9mm, 205g; plastic body; IP67 dust/water resistant (up to 1m for 30 minutes).
• Screen: 6.70″ OLED, 120Hz, 1080x2400px resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio, 393ppi.
• Chipsets: Qualcomm SM7450-AB Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 (4nm): Octa-core (1×2.4GHz Cortex-A710 & 3×2.36GHz Cortex-A710 & 4×1.8GHz Cortex-A510); Adreno 644.
• Memory: 256GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 12GB RAM; microSDXC.
• Operating system/software: Android 13.
• Rear camera: Broad (main): 108 MP, f/1.7, 1/1.67″, 0.64μm, PDAF, OIS; Ultra wide angle: 8 MP, f/2.4, 120 degrees, 1/4.0″, 1.12μm; Macros: 5MP, f/2.2; Depth: 2MP, f/2.4.
• Front camera: 32 MP, f/2.5, (wide), 1/3.2″, 0.7μm.
• Video capture: Rear camera: 4K@30fps, 1080p@30fps, gyro-EIS; Front camera: 1080p@30fps.
• Drums: 4600mAh; Wired 30W, wireless 15W, reverse wireless 5W, reverse wired.
• Connectivity: 5G; Dual SIM; WiFi 6; BT5.2; NFC; 3.5mm socket.
• Various: Fingerprint reader (side mounted).

Indeed, at the time of writing, the HTC U23 Pro appears to be on sale on Amazon in the US, Canada, UK, and Germany. A 12GB RAM 256GB storage drive will set you back €550/$670, which is not exactly a cheap price. Looking at the specs of the U23 Pro, it can probably best be described as a mid-range device by today’s standards, sporting items like a 120Hz OLED display, a Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 chipset, and a 108MP main camera, enabled OIS extension. Technically, however, in the absence of HTC’s current superior phones, the U23 Pro is the company’s flagship offering. Do with it what you will.

In any case, the U23 Pro is an extremely intriguing device that we can’t wait to delve into if only for the sake of nostalgia.

Unpacking

However, before we talk about the positives, let’s quickly open up the HTC U23 Pro. It ships in a very simplistic, plain-colored two-piece cardboard box. It doesn’t attract attention at all, with a very subdued two-tone design. On the other hand, the phone itself doesn’t try to be flashy either. Regardless, the case is very sturdy and should do a great job of protecting the phone, even with no plastic mounts inside.

The accessory situation is quite disappointing. Unless you count the little HTC sticker included as an accessory, all you get is basically a sturdy USB Type-C to Type-C cable. The cable is very basic and doesn’t even include an e-marker chip. There is no charger in the box, which is a pity.