HTC smartphones that have been banned by U.S. Customs officials due to patent disputes with Apple are slowly making their way to respective network carriers. Earlier this month, reports surfaced online that ITC has blocked the shipping of HTC One X and HTC EVO 4G LTE into U.S due to violation of Apple's patents. Last week, we also reported that T-Mobile's HTC Amaze 4G might also be one of the blocked HTC smartphones, turning the count of banned HTC smartphones into three.
The Taiwanese cell phone vendor announced on Sunday that certain models of its newest smartphones that were blocked under ITC rules are trickling into U.S. for consumers to purchase.
"Each imported HTC model must be reviewed by Customs and will be released once Customs officials have completed the inspection. Some models have gone through inspection and been released to our carriers customers. We don't have the status of each specific device model at this time, but we are working closely with Customs. We remain confident that this issue will be resolved soon," said HTC in a statement on Sunday.
The details were revealed in "an active clarification regarding the US Custom's inspection status of HTC products" announcement. Each imported HTC model must be reviewed by custom officials and the ban is lifted once the inspection is completed.
Last week, the Taiwanese mobile major said that customers might face delays in availability of HTC One X and HTC EVO 4G LTE as the products have been seized by customs due to patent infringements. HTC One X hit AT&T stores May 6, while Sprint announced to release EVO 4G LTE on May 18, but the smartphones was not able to debut in the market due to ITC's ban.
Though, HTC didn't highlight any smartphone clearly, it is believed that the U.S. customs might have given approval to all of the banned smartphones. HTC EVO 4G LTE and One X are identical in software offerings, so removing one from the banned items list means the ban has also been lifted from the other one. However, in case HTC is talking about T-Mobile's Amaze 4G, there could be some time for HTC One X and EVO 4G LTE to roll out in the market.
As U.S. sales of HTC smartphones remain weak, the Taiwanese tech giant is reportedly turning towards other emerging market like Asia to seek growth.
