HTC Tiara leaks: mid-range WP8 smartie landing in May

HTC will keep on making Windows Phone 8 handsets, but there are signs it's losing its faith in Microsoft's mobile OS. The struggling Taiwanese company has killed off a planned flagship, codenamed the Zenith, but is going ahead with a mid-range affair known as the Tiara, Unwired View reports.

It'll be one of the first mobiles to run Windows Phone 8 GDR2, which is the second update to the OS since its debut at the end of last year. There are no images of the Tiara yet, but we hear it won't look anything like the recently-unveiled HTC One.

So what about the specs? Well they're distinctly average, with a 1.2GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, a 4.3-inch 800x480-pixel display, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage. On imaging duties are an 8-megapixel camera, and a 1.6-megapixel front-facer.

If you're thinking it sounds a lot like the HTC One SV Android blower, then you'd be right. The only difference seems to be the camera: the Tiara features an 8-megapixel number on the back, to the One SV's 5-.

Does the Tiara show HTC is losing faith in Windows Phone 8? Or that it can't compete with the likes of the Nokia Lumia 920 at the high-end? The Tiara is set to hit shelves mid-May, so we'll bring you more when we get it.

HTC has been struggling of late, but is hoping its latest flagship, the HTC One, will revive its fortunes. If you don't want a new handset but do like the look of HTC's Sense 5 UI, then you're in luck, as the company will bring it to older Android mobiles too. These are: the One X, One X+, One S and the HTC Butterfly.

Do you like the sound of the HTC Tiara? Or has the company lost its way? Let me know in the comments, or on Facebook.

Image credit: Jon Richardson