HTC yesterday announced its first two smartphones running Windows Phone 8, joining Samsung and Nokia in the race to drive uptake of Microsoft’s latest mobile OS.

At the unveiling of the two devices in New York, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said the combination of HTC and Windows Phone 8 is “a big milestone for both companies” and offer customers “a truly unique experience”.

"Windows Phone has clearly emerged as one of the top mobile ecosystems and is competitive against any other smartphone platform in the world," HTC CEO Peter Chou added.

The Windows Phone 8X by HTC (pictured) has a 4.3-inch screen and runs a Qualcomm S4 1.5GHz dual-core processor with 16GB of storage and 1GB of RAM. The top-end device has an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera and 2.1MP front facing unit and, like Nokia’s latest Windows Phone devices, is NFC-capable.

The mid-tier 8S has a slightly smaller 4-inch screen and a 1GHz version of the same Qualcomm processor with 16GB of storage and 512Mb of RAM. The 8S is equipped with a 5-megapixel camera.

The HTC 8X and 8S both include high quality audio software from Beats Audio and integrate the recently-rebranded Windows Phone Store for apps and Xbox Live gaming service. Neither device has LTE capability.

Like Nokia’s offerings, the HTC devices come in a range of bold colours that echo the Windows Phone Live Tiles, including Flame Red, as shown above.

The devices will be available from early November through more than 150 mobile operators in more than 50 countries. In the US the 8X and 8S will be available through AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless, while European operators Orange, Telefonica, MTS, Three UK, T-Mobile and Vodafone will also offer the devices. Chungwa Telecom, Optus, Singtel, Smartone, Telstra and Vodafone Australia will carry the device in the Asia Pacific region.

The HTC launches follow Samsung’s unveiling of the ATIV S at the end of August and Nokia’s Lumia 820 and 920 smartphones, which were revealed earlier in September.