Upon its rollout to the global retail markets in April this year, the HTC One M9 did not live up to the expectations of its Taiwanese maker, in terms of sales and ultimately consumer reception.
Because of minimal upgrade from its predecessor from last year, the HTC One M8, the HTC One M9 experienced the same fate as the Samsung Galaxy S5 last year, when the Korean tech giant only made minimal upgrades to the Samsung Galaxy S4 the year before.
As smartphone users have now become more intelligent and discerning, current flagship devices need to be on top of their game if they are to pass the rising standards of consumers and any half-baked and run-off-the-mill smartphones will wear itself out in the market long before it completes its customary one-year cycle.
That seems to be the case now with the HTC One M9 especially with reports going loudly every day that the Taiwanese smartphone maker is set to launch the HTC Aero or the HTC One A9 on September 6.
Seeking redemption
Phandroid reports that with the disappointment generated by HTC One M9, HTC really needs some form of redemption to entice smartphone buyers to stick to its brand and the company needs it fast.
And it seems that fast for HTC means a little over four months since the launch of HTC One M9. Apparently, the Taiwanese smartphone maker will be launching the HTC One A9 on September 6.
The report was confirmed by the HTC account on Weibo which said that the company will be announcing a new smartphone on Sunday, September 6. But it is not clear whether the HTC One A9 will be the redeemer of the HTC One M9 or it would just come out again as another of its Desire series mid-range handsets.
However, based on the silhouette of the handset on the flier released recently, the HTC One A9 looks like an iPhone clone, which means that it is to be the company’s latest entry to the high-end smartphone market.
A handsome phone
According to the teaser of HTC, the HTC One A9 will feature a 10-core smartphone, the first of its kind in the industry, and that the company will be unveiling a very handsome phone on September 6, details iDigital Times.
Further heightening the excitement on the new smartphone from HTC is the seven-second video that apparently came out from the HTC test center. The speaker grill is different from the HTC One flagship smartphone lines, but its front-facing snapper is still in the same position as its predecessors.
HTC CEO Cher Wang dubs the upcoming HTC One A9 as its hero device, obviously because that is what the company needs at this point following the huge letdown that is the HTC One M9.
Smartphone critics believe that Wang is not exaggerating at all when she said that the HTC One A9 is to be their hero device. Based on initial leaks, the latest smartphone from the Taiwanese smartphone maker will sport high-end features like a Quad HD 1440 x 2560 pixel touchscreen display, an enhanced rear camera with RAW photography support, the industry-leading deca-core (10-core) MediaTek Helio X20 chip, and a combined 4GB of RAM. More of its features will be known once it is formally unveiled on September 6.
Despite underperforming in the global retail markets, HTC One M9 still has a lot to offer when it eventually hit all major carriers in the US during the first few weeks of April following its global launch in March at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2015 in Barcelona, Spain.
The HTC One M9 has received a number of criticisms particularly for its under-achieving camera and its design which hardly offers any major improvement from the HTC One M8.
Right off the bat, the HTC One M9 drew positive feedbacks for its stunning all-aluminum design. Critics, however, were quick to point out that the design was practically a rehash of what HTC One M8 previously featured when it was released last year.
I stopped reading your article as soon as you mentioned that HTC looks like an iphone clone. Do you realize that the HTC M7 came out before this current iPhone design? I think it’s safe to say that HTC inspired Apple.