14 DAY TRIAL // If you’re an HTC fan, you probably remember that the company also had a mini smartphone lineup. It wasn't an extensive one, as it only included the 4.3-inch HTC One mini (launched in July 2013) and the 4.5-inch HTC One mini 2 (launched in May 2014). Even so, the company plans to kill it for good.
It appears HTC doesn't see a point in launching handsets with tiny displays when the whole industry is pushing towards phones with larger screens.
The company’s North Asia president, Jack Tong, explained during the Taiwanese launch event of the One M9+ that, since customer demand is for devices with displays over 5 inches, there is no reason to try and pursue the mini niche (as seen at Focus Taiwan).
HTC says no to small phones
So if you had your eyes set on the One M9 but you were hoping to see a smaller, cheaper version arrive, we’re sorry to tell you HTC has absolutely no plans to bring to the market such a miniature version. At least not this year.
The One M9 launched at MWC 2015 with a 5-inch display, and a few months later, the company already unveiled in Asia a larger (5.5-inch) and better version of the flagship, called the One E9+.
The device rocks 1440 x 2560 pixel resolution (above the 1080p of the One M9) and draws life from an octa-core MediaTek Helio X10 processor clocked at 2.2GHz, working hand in hand with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. The phone also has a fingerprint scanner built into its home button.
So, as you can see, HTC is focusing on building larger, better phones with appealing specs rather than going the opposite direction. It’s pretty unlikely that we see the Taiwanese company roll out any budget phones with low-end specs in the future, but who can say for sure?
On top of not being very popular, the One mini and One mini 2 (toned-down versions of the One M7 and One M8, respectively) were also quite forgotten in terms of software updates.
While these two older flagships have received the Android 5.0 Lollipop update, the mini versions are still waiting to receive the same treatment. A speculative Q3-Q4 timeframe has been given, and hopefully, HTC will comply at some point.