https://wccftech.com/htc-u11-plus-originally-pixel-2-xl/

Turns out that the Pixel successor which was codenamed ‘Muskie’ did not die, but reborn in another smartphone we now know as the HTC U11+. According to a source close to this information, the HTC U11+ was originally intended to be the Pixel 2 XL, but Google decided to throw out the Taiwanese’s phone design out the window and accept what LG brought to the table.

According to The Verge, it has confirmed with a source familiar with HTC and Google that the U11+ was going to be the Pixel 2 XL, but the project was scrapped altogether. Come to think of it, there are a lot of similarities if we hold both devices together. While the original form of the flagship was not what Google wanted it to be, it was originally going to be used for the handset that would eventually find its way as the successor to the original Pixel XL.