High Tech Computer (HTC) has announced two new high-end smartphones, the U Ultra and U Play in Taiwan, and Chialin Chang, HTC president of Global Sales has pointed out that the company hopes the smartphones will have better sales performance than the company's M series devices.

HTC also has made some personnel adjustments with president of HTC North Asia Jack Tung being reassigned to work on the expansion of HTC Vive stores in Japan and Taiwan.

The U series smartphones will begin selling in Taiwan at the end of January, while other markets will need to wait until after mid-February.

Chang dismissed rumors about HTC planning layoffs for its North America branch. Chang said that North America is still an important market for HTC. The branch has seen some of its staff leave, but the team in North America still has about 100 people.

The U series smartphones will also be released in North America and will cooperate with local telecom carriers and channel retailers to sell them.

In the future, U series will become the flagship models, while its Desire series will target the mid-range to low-end market segments. The company will also downsize its product portfolio to give its devices clearer positioning in the market.