HTC has officially announced the expansion of its U11 smartphone lineup. At this week's keynote event, the Taiwan-based handset maker introduced the HTC U11 Life to the public, a mid-range smartphone jam-packed with all the defining features of the original U11 premium device.

As reported by The Verge, HTC launched two new smartphones earlier this week, namely the U11 Life and the U11 Plus. The latter, which is the enhanced version of HTC's previous flagship, is not yet expected to arrive in the U.S. market anytime soon. However, the U11's budget variant, U11 Life, is scheduled to arrive in the country on Friday, Nov. 3. Users can now enjoy the top-notch features of HTC U11, albeit in a smaller package, for only $350.

There is hope that U11 Life will finally secure a place for HTC in the U.S. market. The company has been overshadowed by the top smartphone labels in the country for the past years, including Samsung and Apple. The U11 Life will be put on sale by T-Mobile on Friday, and HTC's website will start selling the unlocked model on the same day.

At the first glance, people will see that the HTC U11 Life as just a miniature of the original U11, although there are a few differences between the models apart from size. For one, the U11 Life features HTC's new "liquid surface" design with two glossy panels combined to form a metal frame. The front display has a 16:9 aspect ratio, complete with the U11's usual fingerprint scanner and special buttons to access different apps. Unlike the U11 that sports an all-glass back, the rear cover of U11 Life is made of acrylic, which can be seen as an improvement due to the glass cover breaking easily, Engadget reported.

The HTC U11 Life still has the IP67 water and dust-resistant protection of the original U11. Although, there is a slight downgrade in terms of screen and chips, as U11 Life's 5.2-inch screen has 1080p resolution instead of 2K from the premium U11 variant. The lower-range U11 Life is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 processor with 3GB RAM and 32GB internal memory. The storage can be expanded via microSD card. As for the camera module, both the front and back shooters have 16MP lens with f/2.0 aperture, but no optical stabilization feature is included.