Back in the day when the successors to Google Pixel and Pixel XL handsets were talk of the town, a mysterious device codenamed "muskie" had emerged online. It was believed to be the Pixel 2 XL, only to be replaced by another smartphone known as "taimen" in the last minute. With HTC's recent launch of new devices, it was brought up that the new U11 Plus flagship is actually "muskie" itself.

As reported by The Verge, "muskie" was a concept from HTC to build the Google Pixel 2 XL. However, the search engine giant ultimately chose the "taimen" design, which was submitted by LG. The online publication tried to confirm whether the rejected "muskie" concept phone was actually the HTC U11 Plus and the result was positive. Based on their sources, the HTC U11 Plus bears the same core design and technology as the "could be" Pixel 2 XL.

Another proof that the HTC U11 Plus is "muskie" brought to life is the striking similarities between the actual Google Pixel 2 and the smartphone itself. For one, the display size and dimensions of the HTC U11 Plus are almost the same as the Google Pixel 2 XL. Both premium handsets sport a 6-inch screen display with 18:9 aspect ratio and 2880x1440 resolution. The only difference is that the Pixel 2 XL screen makes use of OLED technology, while the U11 Plus has the usual LCD display.

First reports comparing the Google Pixel 2 XL and HTC U11 Plus came from XDA Developers, which spotted the "muskie" device in one of the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) files. It was not specified if the handset was actually the U11 Plus, but the description matched the recently-launched device. The AOSP has Google as the manufacturer of "muskie," which raised speculations that the handset was supposed to be the Pixel 2 XL.

There is still no news about the release of HTC U11 Plus in the U.S. market, although the U11's smaller variant, Life, is set to arrive in the country this November.