HTC One Google Edition in the Summer

HTC will sell a Google Edition version of its flagship One smartphone with the stock Android operating system, CNET has confirmed. Word of a version of the phone without its trademark Sense user interface popped up earlier Friday on Geek.com, with a reported time frame of two weeks. HTC is indeed planning to launch the phone, but the only indication of timing was summer, a person familiar with the company's plans told CNET.

HTC has bet heavily that its Sense user interface will set its products apart from the rest of the Android pack. The move follows a similarly surprising announcement by Samsung Electronics that it would launch a version of its Galaxy S4 with stock Android. The phone strips out the many Samsung touches that were loaded into the phone.