Skip to main content

HTC was planning a phone customization site before the Moto X

HTC was planning a phone customization site before the Moto X

Share this story

HTC design studio
HTC design studio

Motorola isn't the only phone company that's invested in color customizations for its handsets. Sources familiar with HTC's plans have revealed to The Verge that the company was prototyping a color customization project for US carrier Sprint. The project involved HTC's 8XT Windows Phone device, with the idea of allowing customers to customize a range of colors on the handset. We're told that an HTC Design Studio, planned as a web app, would have served as a method for Sprint customers to order a custom 8XT. The Design Studio included color options for speaker, accents, the two-tone highlights, and personal engraving.

We understand that Sprint and HTC both canceled the project over cost and complexity concerns. HTC adopted the two-tone color scheme from its 8S handset for the 8XT, opting to launch the handset on Sprint in July with an improved color scheme over the similar 8X device. While HTC's plans have clearly been shelved, if Motorola is successful with its own color experiment it's possible that HTC and others may end up launching similar handset customization options of their own in the future.