Judge says HTC One follow-up likely due in early 2014

The One has been a pretty big deal for HTC in 2013, selling millions of units, spawning miniature and mega-sized variants and getting re-released in several colors. Because of the One’s flagship status, it’s fairly likely that we’ll see Peter Chou and Co. churn out a follow-up at some point in the future. No one knows for sure yet when that’ll be, but today a U.K. judge may have given us a possible timeframe to look forward to.

In his ruling of the HTC One mini ban that we told you about earlier today, Judge Richard Arnold says that “HTC is close to launching the successor flagship model to the HTC One.” The judge goes on to explain that as part of its evidence against HTC, Nokia said that the Taiwanese firm is planning to launch its One follow-up in early 2014, possibly as early as February. HTC did nothing to argue against this claim.

Many manufacturers in the mobile space have adopted a yearly refresh cycle for their flagship products, and because the HTC One originally debuted back in February, it wouldn’t be a shock to see its follow-up emerge early in 2014. While the details provided by today’s ruling don’t guarantee that HTC is eyeing a February or March debut for its next flagship, they do seem to add a bit of support to the theory that the next One will debut in that timeframe.

What features do you hope to see included with the next version of the HTC One?