Four HTC U12 Plus Sample Photos Leak With EXIF Data

- April 30, 2018

Four photographs said to have been taken with HTC's upcoming U12 Plus Android flagship leaked online earlier today, having been obtained by Dutch tech blog Mobiel Kopen. The images that can be seen in the gallery below were apparently taken in the company's home country of Taiwan and were leaked together with their unaltered EXIF data which doesn't reveal the actual specifics of the smartphone's camera but does disclose some of its capabilities, in addition to pointing to the location where they were captured. The photographs hence hint at a 12.2-megapixel camera setup with two lenses — an f/1.8 module and another f/2.6 one — in addition to identifying the possible HTC U12 Plus by the model number 2Q55100.

One of the two lenses will possibly be a telephoto affair, with the entire setup delivering seemingly sharp results, even though it appears to be struggling to control image noise as efficiently as Huawei's P20 and Samsung's Galaxy S9 lineups do, as indicated by the limited sample data. Regardless, the newly leaked photographs are indicative of a high dynamic range and advanced algorithms for guarding against blown-out highlights, i.e. bright areas of images which lack any kind of detail and are purely white.

While it's theoretically possible that the EXIF data is actually pointing to a single-lens camera system with one 12.2-megapixel sensor and a variable-aperture lens reminiscent of the Galaxy S9 family, that doesn't seem likely, especially given how multiple leaks already hinted at a dual-camera setup residing on the back of HTC's next Android flagship. The handset may also have twin imaging sensors on its top bezel, with rumors suggesting HTC opted for an 18:9 display without a notch, Qualcomm's Snapdragon 845 chip, 6GB of RAM, and a 64GB storage space base. The HTC U12 Plus won't be accompanied by a smaller device and will be the only high-end smartphone from the Taiwanese tech giant released in 2018, as per previous reports. HTC just endured its worst fiscal year to date and is believed to be looking to cut costs in the mobile segment, albeit it still hasn't signaled it's preparing for an exit from the handset market.