Taipei, Jan. 31 (CNA) Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC Corp. will launch its new flagship smartphone, the M7, in London and New York Feb. 19, industry sources said Thursday.

HTC sent out invitations to press events in both cities a day earlier but did not reveal the name of the device.

Corporate sources confirmed, however, that it will be the M7.

It will mark the first time HTC has simultaneously launched a new Android model in both the United Kingdom and the United States, said Benjamin Ho, the company's new chief marketing officer.

Industry analysts said the new arrangement symbolizes HTC's strong determination to stage a comeback in both the U.S. and European markets.

HTC was ranked as the world's No. 4 smartphone vendor for the whole of 2012, with shipments of 32.6 million units and a 4.6 percent global market share, according to International Data Corp., a U.S.-based market research firm.

Both figures marked significant drops from its record high in 2011, when the company's shipments reached 43.6 million units and its market share stood at 8.8 percent.

The company officially unveiled its flagship One series of handsets at a huge press conference at the 2012 Mobile World Congress (MWC) in the Spanish city of Barcelona. Those devices, and the design choices inherent in them, went on to influence much of HTC's 2012 device portfolio.

This time around, HTC has chosen to release its new flagship phones a week before the MWC opening.

Leading smartphone vendor Samsung Electronics Corp. of South Korea is also scheduled to unveil its new flagship device at a media event in Jakarta, Indonesia ahead of the MWC inauguration Feb. 25.

(By Esme Jiang and Sofia Wu)
ENDITEM/J