Those in the UK can now go ahead and pre-order any of the two HTC phones announced in early 2016. Dubbed HTC U Ultra and HTC U Play, the two were announced after the CES 2017, but they are yet to be available for purchase in all markets.
In fact, the HTC U Ultra and HTC U Play are currently not available for purchase in any market, but the company has opened up pre-orders for the two. In the U.S., pre-orders are available for those who are part of AT&T and T-Mobile – the phone has no room for CDMA or rather Verizon and Sprint – at $749. But be warned that the shipping is not immediate, rather, the company says it will begin in mid-March.
Now, for those in the UK and Middle East, you can also pre-order the new HTC U Ultra and U Play right now. Shipping in the UK begins on March 1 but those in the Middle East will start receiving their phones as early as February 22. There are few details on the table regarding the Middle East market, but the U Ultra has been listed for AED 2,799, which is about $762. Whether other channels will also be selling the phone in this region is still unknown, but for those who deem the U Ultra as too expensive, the U Play should be cheaper, but for now, it is not yet available for pre-order yet.
As for the UK, you have several options through which to acquire the HTC U Ultra and U Play. One is to get it outright via major online retailers or opt for a two-year contract. Where the U Ultra will set you back £649, the U Play demands £399. But this means you go through the official HTC UK website. These prices include a free clear case for you, something that also means HTC is selling them at a slightly higher cost than other retailers who have no such offer. For instance, you can save between £30-£35 when you buy the HTC U Ultra from either Unlocked Mobiles or Clove. As for the U Play, these two platforms will save you £5.
If you choose to go with Carphone Warehouse, the SIM-free HTC U Ultra will set you back £649.99 while the U Play demands £469.99. Alternatively, the retailer has several plans for two-year contracts for both phones. The high-end U Ultra will set you back an upfront fee of £0.00, but you’ll need to part with £50.99 per month. The good side of the story is that this plan also includes up to 24GB of monthly data.
In case web browsing is not your thing, Carphone Warehouse has another plan for you. However, this will demand that you part with an upfront fee of £99.99, although the monthly fee drops to just £42.00. Strange enough, these are not the only plans that retailer has in favor of the HTC U Ultra – there are many others here, so make sure you go through them carefully before choosing which one suits you.
Like the HTC U Ultra, the midrange HTC U Play is also being offered with some amazing plans, but one of the best ones should be where you don’t need an upfront payment, instead, all you need is to part with a monthly fee of £28.00 and you still get a massive 24GB of monthly data as well. Alternatively, you can go with £32 per month and like the other one, you don’t need an upfront payment. However, this plan has no data, but as noted, there are plenty of these two-year contracts available for each phone, so make sure you make the choices wisely.
Both phones will start shipping as from March 1, which is just two weeks away.
Do you plan to pre-order the HTC U Ultra or U Play? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.