14 DAY TRIAL // Like BlackBerry, well-known smartphone maker HTC isn’t doing so well in terms of making profits rise while its smartphone business is concerned.
The device maker has announced the One M9 flagship during the same day as Samsung unveiled the monstrous Galaxy S6, which proved to be a big mistake because everyone raced to see the Galaxy S6 and immediately forgot about the One M9.
The thing is, the One M9 proved to be incapable of differentiating itself from other competing models on the market, but also from its predecessor, the One M8, which bears a very big resemblance to it.
So it’s no wonder that we’ve been hearing stories saying that the Taiwanese company was forced to lower its component order for the new flagship by almost 30% due to extremely poor demand. What’s more, it seems that Canadian carrier Koodo has apparently discontinued the One M9 altogether, due to lukewarm sales.
Maybe those looking to purchase the One M9 might get lucky and find the phone in the carrier’s brick and mortar stores, but on Koodo’s official website, the phone is nowhere to be found.
To get one thing straight, the One M9 is not all bad. It just fails to match up to devices such as the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge or the iPhone 6.
HTC needs to fix the One M9 flop
Unlike HTC, Samsung produced a totally different Galaxy S phone this year, after listening carefully to fans’ complaints about the Galaxy S5. As for HTC, the company contented itself with overhauling the design on the One M8 a little bit and throwing in a bunch of extra features, none of which were too mind-blowing.
However, HTC did take some criticism into consideration. After trying to push the puzzling 4MP UltraPixel camera ever since the One M7, the company finally realized it was not what customers wanted and replaced it with a 20MP main camera on the One M9. Even so, without optical image stabilization (OIS), the One M9 still offers less impressive results than other flagships on the market.
But that’s hardly all that’s wrong with the One M9. HTC chose to go with the Snapdragon 810 in order to power the whole shenanigan, while other manufacturers like Samsung and LG weren't persuaded to do so. And the inevitable happened: some One M9 owners complained that the flagship was overheating.
HTC’s woes have extended to a point where earlier this month, CEO Cher Wang had to apologize to investors for the company’s poor performance in the recent months. She attributed it to “poor operational efficiency an overly conservative marketing strategy amid fierce competition in the global market.”
But she also mentioned an interesting aspect. Apparently, HTC is readying to release a new “hero product” in October. On top of that, the company is looking to make improvements and innovation for its next flagship.
Will the Aero be the savior? It could
Well, the rumor mill has recently revealed that the HTC Aero is poised to make a debut in Q4 2015. Not much info has been provided about this mystery phone, except for the fact that the device takes advantage of a Snapdragon 820 processor.
So, the HTC Aero might be the hero product the company’s CEO was talking about. So should we expect a re-design to happen? Probably not, as I don’t think HTC has had enough time to develop a new look for its premium lineup.
If we’re lucky, the next-gen One M10 might be able to satisfy our thirst for change in the design department, when it comes out at MWC 2016 next March.
Still, I’m getting good vibes from the HTC Aero. For starters, the Snapdragon 820 might finally resolve the overheating issues of the Snapdragon 810, and once and for all, we might be able to forget all about these thermal problems.
On the other hand, we do hope HTC plans to bundle the Aero with some highly competent features. For example, putting optical image stabilization on the main camera would certainly be considered a step further.
HTC has a chance to make a comeback in customers’ preferences this year, but will the company seize the opportunity? We certainly hope so, as the Taiwanese device maker needs it, badly.
Hopefully, the HTC Aero is not some kind of re-branded One M9 version, but a standalone new product, as I believe this is what consumers crave for from HTC - novelty!