Unlike the recent unveiling of HTC's new flagship HTC One M9 smartphone, the company has quietly announced a high-end phablet with a 5.5-inch Quad HD display in the form of the HTC One E9 Plus.
When Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Note 4 and Galaxy Note Edge in September 2014, one of the phablet's most impressive features was its gorgeous high resolution 2560 by 1440 pixel Quad HD display. When the company took the wraps off of its Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge at Mobile World Congress on March 1, smartphone fans were delighted once again, as both handsets pack in Quad HD displays.
On the same day, Samsung introduced the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge, HTC held its own event to unveil its next-generation HTC One M9. Unlike Samsung, HTC decided to use the same 1920 by 1080 Full HD display found in last year's flagship HTC One M8. The company was also widely expected to debut a phablet at its event in the form of the HTC One M9 Plus, which never came to fruition.
We recently reported that HTC was also preparing to launch a new 5.5-inch phablet called the HTC One E9. Like the Samsung Galaxy Note 4, Note Edge, Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, the HTC One E9 was said to ship with a high-resolution Quad HD display.
In somewhat of a strange move, HTC has announced the HTC One E9 Plus before the HTC One E9, which is expected to be unveiled at a press event on April 8, along with the HTC One M9 Plus.
HTC has created a dedicated webpage for the HTC One E9 Plus on its Chinese website. The phablet shares a similar design language as the HTC One M9, but since this is part of the E series, it trades in the One M9's premium unibody full metal jacket for a polycarbonate rear case. The phablet is listed as having a 5.5-inch 2560 by 1440 Quad HD display, it's powered by a 64-bit octa-core MediaTek processor, 3 GB of RAM, Android 5.0 Lollipop, and 20 megapixel rear camera.
It's unclear if HTC plans on launching the One E9 Plus outside of China. We'll keep you posted.
