When HTC announced its latest One A9 smartphone, Verizon was absent from the list of supported carriers at launch. HTC has just updated its webpage for the One A9 and added that the Verizon variant will be released in December.
In an effort to try and increase poor sales of its most recent smartphones, most notably the HTC One M9, the company followed up on its promise to release a new flagship handset. It announced the HTC One A9 at a press event on Oct. 20. What sets the HTC One A9 apart from current Android smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy S6, S6 Edge, LG G4 and others is that it's the first non-Nexus smartphone to ship with Android 6.0 Marshmallow.
The HTC One A9 continues the company's tradition of using premium materials like aluminum and glass in the smartphone's build. When images of the handset were leaked in late August, it was photographed with an iPhone 6, and it's clear HTC took some design inspiration from Apple's smartphone, complete with the same plastic cutouts for antenna reception.
HTC is currently taking preorders for the HTC One A9 via its online store for a factory unlocked model that's compatible with AT&T and T-Mobile, as well as AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint specific variants. The smartphone is priced at $399.99 until Nov. 7, and HTC just updated the One A9's page to now include, "Verizon [model is] coming in December."
The HTC One A9 features a five-inch 1920 by 1080 Full HD AMOLED display with a pixel density of 441 pixels per inch (ppi) and is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 processor, Adreno 405 GPU (graphics processing unit) and 3 GB of RAM. It includes 32 GB of internal storage and microSD expansion slot that supports up to 200 GB microSD cards.
The HTC One A9 packs a 13 megapixel rear camera with OIS (optical image stabilization), dual-led flash and 4 UltraPixel front-facing camera for video chat and selfies. It includes a 2,150 mAh battery that will provide up to 16 hours of talk time and 432 hours of standby time.
HTC has priced the One A9 at $399.99 for a limited time, and the price will increase to $499.99 starting on Nov. 7. It's unclear if HTC will make any exceptions for Verizon customers who have no way of ordering the smartphone before Nov. 7 and shouldn't miss out on getting it at the same price as other customers.
