HTC Makes The Best Android Phone In The World. Soon, It'll Make The Best Windows Phone.

HTC plans to launch a new version of its flagship Android phone, the One, as a device running Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system.

It's going to look like this, according to an image found on Verizon's own servers:

(We first saw the photo on Windows Phone Central.)

The phone appears to be identical to the current HTC One, which looks like this:

Many consider the HTC One to be the best Android phone. Unlike other Android phone makers, HTC uses premium materials like aluminum in its flagship devices. It also does a better job at providing software updates and new features compared to rivals like Samsung.

So Windows Phone fans should get pretty excited that the HTC One design is coming to the Windows Phone family. Nokia, which is now part of Microsoft and sells the more Windows Phones than anyone else, tends to make chunky, brick-like plastic phones that are pretty dull looking. This will be the first time Windows Phone users will get a premium device with a design that rivals the iPhone.

HTC announced this week that it'll launch a new product at an event in New York on August 19. It's almost certainly the Windows Phone shown above.

But HTC is still in a bit of a pickle. Even though it makes excellent products, Samsung and even startups like Xiaomi continue to sell a lot more handsets. According to ComScore, HTC only has 5% of the U.S. smartphone market share. Apple has 42% and Samsung has 28%.

The company's philosophy seems to be that making great products like the One will eventually pay off, but we haven't seen that happen in the month since the One launched.