Fresh from releasing their 2015 flagship – the One M9 – HTC announced today a new smartphone model, which is positioned in-between the moderate to premium end of the price spectrum: the One M8s.
Fresh from releasing their 2015 flagship – the One M9 – HTC announced today a new smartphone model, which is positioned in-between the moderate to premium end of the price spectrum: the One M8s.
The One M8s is essentially a re-produced M8, sharing near exact specifications, design, and a frame that only differs by 0.2mm in width. However, there are key differences – the M8s comes equipped with two clusters of four Cortex A53 cores, a Snapdragon 615 processor, and a higher capacity battery (at 2840mAH) than the original M8.
The new M8s, interestingly, doesn’t arrive with the 4MP UltraPixel sensor which the M8 sported, and rather possesses a normal 13MP sensor. The M8s retains – for the selfie-enthused – the front-facing depth camera which enables post processing such as depth of field configuration and refocussing.
The M8s will also be arriving out-of-the-box with Android 5.0 Lollipop, which the original M8 can be upgraded to, and will support Bluetooth 4.1 firmware. The M8s will retain the M8’s 1080p LCD screen, and will only arrive in a 16GB version as opposed to the 32GB M8 model HTC produced.
While HTC’s intentions in releasing the M8s are arguable, it seems the firm is content to use the slightly-updated smartphone to fill niches within their product line. Rather than exist as an upgrade over the original One M8 (as the “s” in M8s moniker might cause Apple fans to assume) the M8s is expected to sit between the Desire 826, and the newly minted flagship, the One M9.
The M8s will be launching in Europe, with an average retail price of 379.99 GBP. Compared to the on-average 544 GBP retail for the One M9, that represents a sizeable saving for consumers willing to eschew HTC’s darling handset for a re-invigorated M8.
Follow Bryan on Twitter: @bryansmith1138
