HTC unveiled its follow-up to its popular One M8 smartphone at a press event on March 1. Here's a roundup of which carriers and retailers plan to offer the HTC One M9, when it will be released and pricing details.
HTC's new One M9 will battle it out with Apple's iPhone 6 and Samsung's new Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge and in the high-end smartphone market. Samsung took some design inspiration from its rivals by building its next-generation smartphones with premium materials like metal and glass, instead of its usual love of plastic. While the design change is welcomed, there are some notable features Samsung removed from the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge. The flagship smartphones no longer include a removable battery and users will no longer be able to increase storage, since the handsets lack a microSD expansion slot. The omissions are two of the biggest features Samsung has long criticized Apple for.
When HTC gave its flagship smartphone an all-new design with the release of the HTC One in 2013, it was also forced to completely seal its aluminum-clad smartphone, which meant no user-replaceable battery and ability to expand its storage via an expansion slot. Luckily, HTC remedied the expandable storage issue when it released last year's flagship One M8 and its just-announced HTC One M9 smartphone will allow users to expand its memory, unlike the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge.
HTC hasn't provided an exact release date for the One M9 yet but says it will arrive in "early spring." Some reports claim it will likely hit shelves before the end of March. The HTC One M9 will be released by all four major U.S. carriers; AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile. It will also be available from retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, Best Buy Mobile specialty stores, Costco and Target. HTC has confirmed it will sell an unlocked HTC One M9 through HTC.com.
AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile haven't revealed pricing for the HTC One M9 but consumers should expect to pay the usual $199 with a new two-year contract term. Once we get more specifics we'll be sure to update you.
The HTC One M9 features a 5-inch 1920 x 1080 Full HD Super LCD3 display with a pixel density of 441 pixels per inch (ppi). It's powered by a 64-bit octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor, Adreno 430 GPU (graphics processing unit), and 3 GB of RAM. The One M9 ships with the latest version of Android 5.0 Lollipop and HTC Sense 7, which now includes theming and a new home screen that arranges itself based on time and location.
The HTC One M9's camera capabilities consist of a 20-megapixel rear camera with sapphire lens cover to prevent it from from scratching, autofocus dual-LED flash and an HTC UltraPixel front facing camera with the ability to capture 1080p video, selfies, and video chat.
It includes 32 GB of internal storage and a microSD expansion slot that will support up to 128 GB microSD cards. The One M9's HTC BoomSound speakers now come with Dolby Audio 3 Surround Sound, which produces even richer sound when watching video or playing games on the smartphone, and its large 2,840 mAh battery will provide up to 25 hours of talk time and 391 hours of standby time.
