Nearly four years after going to the peak of success with its Android smartphones, HTC has crashed to the bottom with declining revenues, barely able to squeeze a profit. In the past year, the company has lost key executives, failed to manufacture an appealing, competitive smartphone for the Holiday shopping season, and seems to be putting all bets on 2015.
HTC has now confirmed that it will launch a ‘new HTC One’ in just a couple of weeks. Now it seems HTC might break with tradition and offer a super-sized flagship with the One M9. It may even be a different device entirely, says one well-regarded leaker.
HTC M9 Specifications:
Leading this line of improved specs will be a major overhaul of the phone’s imaging abilities. Based on latest reports, the One M9 will see HTC ditch its brief jaunt into dual-lens photography in favor of a more traditional 20.7-megapixel rear-mounted camera. What’s more, in a bid to appease selfie lovers, a 13-megapixel secondary snapper is expected to feature up front.
Display:
HTC One M9 looks remarkably similar to the current M8 and is really only distinguishable by the camera on the back which has a square shape rather than round. We’re also told that it will be extremely slim: just 7mm for an octo-core smartphone with a large HD display.
Software & Hardware:
HTC M9 is rumored to pack a 5 inch 1080p Super LCD3 display and Snapdragon 810 chip. The latter offers an octa-core processor with 4 Cortex-A57 cores at 2.0GHz and 4 Cortex-A53 cores at 1.5GHz, Adreno 430 GPU and 3GB of RAM. Expect 16-, 32- and 64GB storage options.
Camera:
Early rumors suggested the HTC One M9 would have a 13Mp front- and 20.7Mp rear camera, and that the phone would be capable of 4K (UHD) video recording. However, GSMArena then said there would be a 4Mp UltraPixel camera at the front, and two 20Mp sensors at the back with a dual-tone, dual-LED flash.
Storage and Connectivity:
The HTC One (M9) and (M9) Plus are rumored to come with plentiful on-board storage – the basic version is said to have 32GB of internal storage. A 64GB and even a massive 128 GB versions are also in the plans.
In terms of connectivity, we don’t expect any huge surprises – 4G LTE will naturally be supported with compatible bands for different markets, as well as dual-channel Wi-Fi, and other, pretty much standard connectivity features.
Battery life:
The big benefit of having a thicker phone is that phone makers can cram in bigger batteries inside those devices. The One (M9), in particular, is expected to come with a large, 2840mAh battery. These are early-stage rumors and the final capacity might change, but what does seem certain is that a number around this one would allow the phone to easily last a full day, even under heavier use. We have no hard numbers for the battery capacity of the One (M9) Plus, but we do expect it to last even longer than its 5″ sibling.
Release date and Price
So when will you be able to buy the new HTC flagships? We do expect the HTC One (M9) release date to happen in early spring of 2015, with a prior official unveiling at Mobile World Congress 2015 on March 1st.
HTC has a long and prosperous relationship with US carriers and the One (M9) as well as One (M9) Plus are expected to come to Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile in the United States, as well as to many more carriers across the globe.