An HTC Vive VR smartphone? Video hints one may be coming

This year's CES didn't offer too many surprises in the way of virtual reality, but a new video has some wondering if we'll soon see a major new VR product from HTC: a smartphone.

Buried at the end of an HTC promotional video leaked on Twitter this weekend is the image of what appears to be a smartphone branded as "HTC Vive."

The HTC Vive is the company's popular VR headset, but the only major VR news the company made last week was the unveiling of new VR sensor pucks.

However, a smartphone with some kind of native VR functionality would not only be a huge development, it would represent a smart move forward for HTC as the VR industry continues to focus on the smartphone as the engine of broad user adoption of VR versus the pricier, high-end VR headsets.

Those industry trends were buttressed this holiday season when, according to some estimates, the Samsung Gear VR device, which needs a mobile phone to work, outsold the HTC Vive, the PlayStation VR and the Oculus Rift.

The HTC video, surfaced by Evan Blass on Saturday, may be a hint at what's coming at the company's January 12 event.

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HTC hasn't addressed the video's contents, but if it turns out to be a VR-friendly smartphone, it could offer major competition for Samsung's Gear VR and Google's Daydream View and Pixel mobile VR ecosystem. We'll likely know either way later this week.