HTC’s new smartphone has all the ingredients it need to be its best yet — by far. But it seems some carriers have no confidence in its ability to do battle with rival devices.

HTC has confirmed that AT&T will not be offering the HTC 10 in the U.S., forcing subscribers to purchase the handset unlocked and off-contract instead.

If you’re due an upgrade on AT&T, then, and you’ve been waiting for the HTC 10 to arrive, you’re out of luck. You can either pay $699 for an unlocked model — which is available to pre-order now — or you can switch carriers to get it on a payment plan.

It’s unclear why AT&T has decided not to support the HTC 10. Although previous HTC devices has struggled to compete with rivals from the likes of Samsung and Apple in recent years, they’ve still sold in relatively good numbers, so it’s puzzling that AT&T isn’t interested.

Maybe there’s another reason behind it. It’s possible the carrier will offer the HTC 10 later on, of course, but for the foreseeable future, you’ll have to look elsewhere.

• SourceTechnoBuffalo