A new report claims that HTC is planning on releasing two new One M8 variants; a water-resistant and metal HTC One M8 Plus and a plastic One M8 Advance.
HTC has been hard at work on trying to recapture some of the smartphone market share it lost to Apple, Samsung and LG. The company put this plan in motion when it released last year's HTC One. HTC showed the world and its rivals that it was getting back to focusing on what made the company a huge success back in the day, its expertise in design. The smartphone was a huge hit and was one of the best-selling smartphones of 2013.
When HTC announced its current flagship smartphone, the HTC One M8, a few months ago, it stuck with what worked. The smartphone retained its unibody aluminum case and front-facing dual BoomSound stereo speakers and it's been getting high marks from reviewers and consumers. We now know HTC is planning two more variants of the handset.
HTC plans on introducing an HTC One M8 Plus and HTC One M8 Advanced, a new report from 9to5Google says. The M8 Plus has been referred to as the HTC One M8 Prime in previous leaks and its defining feature will be its 2560 x 1440 QHD display. This will allow HTC to compete with LG and its QHD-enabled G3 and Samsung's rumored QHD Galaxy S5 Prime. The site's source claims that the "Plus" will not use the Duo Camera used in the HTC One M8 and will instead pack in a single 13-megapixel rear camera. Other specs include a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 processor and 3 GB of RAM. The smartphone will use a similar metal case as the HTC One M8, but will be IP-certified water-resistant.
The second HTC One M8 variant will reportedly be named the HTC One M8 Advance. The site claims the M8 Advance will feature the same specifications as the M8 Plus, but will swap out a metal jacket for a plastic case. The smartphone will reportedly be targeted at Asian markets.
The HTC One M8 Plus and HTC One M8 Advance will reportedly launch sometime in August or September. We'll keep you posted as more information becomes available.
