By Stephen Schenck | August 29, 2012 2:12 PM
We’ve heard a lot about the relationship between HTC and Beats Audio over the course of this year so far. After making a massive investment in the company, HTC started featuring its headphones and EQ technology, only to later scale things back by ditching the bundled hardware. More recently, we heard rumors that HTC might break things off with Beats altogether in an attempt to save a little money, but HTC later denied those allegations. A new rumor suggests that we might see something very different from the future of the relationship between these two companies, with the release of a Beats-branded smartphone.
While the phone would say Beats all over, HTC would still manufacture the hardware. There haven’t been any suggestions of just what kind of capabilities the phone would have, but you can bet that audio quality would be a priority. The whole thing is said to be part of a larger Beats push into new territory, also including the release of a Beats television, possibly with Samsung’s help.
Beyond the new hardware, Beats may also be planning a music/media store of its own, currently going by codename Daisy. This all sounds very ambitious if true, but we’ve got to wonder if Beats really has the brand clout it needs to expand into new markets like this.
