The HTC smartwatch won’t be arriving anytime this year

The status of the HTC smartwatch is a bit up in the air right now, with rumours saying that HTC has ditched the project, and others claiming that it’s still on track. Well HTC has confirmed that its smartwatch is not going to be released until next year at the very earliest.

HTC’s Jason Mackenzie told Re/code that the original plan was to have a wearable device going on sale before the end of the year, but it just ended up not being ready. The company still wants to enter the wearable market, but it’s made the decision to hold off on the discussions until next year.

Drew Bamford, head of HTC’s future wearables says that he wants to make sure the device is actually worth wearing, unlike some of the other stuff that has been released by rival companies. The Samsung Galaxy Gear comes to mind. Presumably HTC also wants to be in a position to compete with the Apple Watch, which already has Apple’s brand recognition behind it.

It’ll be interesting to see if and what HTC comes up with, but until then the company has a press event scheduled for sometime today, so we still have plenty to see.