A couple of weeks ago, I found some time between massive, high-profile phone launches to take a trip down memory lane by revisiting the HTC One M7. The phone, which turned ten this year, is one of my favorite Android phones ever, and really helped cement the concept of what a flagship device could and should be. But, as we all know, the HTC we once loved is long gone, having sold off its phones division to Google years ago. And now, with another zombie HTC phone seemingly on the way, I'm here to beg for the company to please, please, quit while it's ahead behind. Please, leave well enough alone.

HTC took to Twitter today to tease a new device on the horizon and, more specifically, to hint at the return of its U-series of devices. These phones served as successors to the M-series, with the HTC U12+ serving as a buttonless flop of a swan song. While the HTC U20 and a couple of Desire phones have all launched over the last five years, they've all been missing out on flagship specs — and, more importantly, have usually been tied up in either crypto or the metaverse. No thanks.

Sadly, it doesn't look like anything's changing here. Today's teaser — which hints at the U-series returning with a cheeky "See U Soon" — is tagged with a Viverse logo, HTC's "open platform" metaverse that spun out of its Vive VR headset. I'm a little confused by the focus on Viverse here, if I'm being honest. Hasn't HTC heard that AI is the hip new buzzword 'round town these days? Metaverse products are so 2022.

This tease doesn't tell us much about what to expect from the phone as, you know, a phone, nor does it really hint at much of a design. However, a mysterious "HTC U23 Pro" did show up in Geekbench in late April, as spotted by Phone Arena, and it could give us just a little insight into what this product really is. Assuming HTC is teasing up to this U23 Pro model, expect what appears to be 12GB of RAM paired with a Snapdragon 7 Gen 1. That's a year-old mid-range Qualcomm chip — not exactly the return to flagships you'd hope for.

We'll have to wait for the official announcement to learn more about the company's next smartphone. Unfortunately, there's no date mentioned here, so if you're curious about a future reveal, you'll have to keep an eye on HTC's social channels.