HTC Officially Unveils the One A9 and it Looks Pretty Neat

HTC has finally lifted the veil off their newest smartphone, the One A9. We had already seen some leaks of the rumored handset that suggested an iPhone 6-like design and now it can be established that the rumours were true. The HTC One A9 is indeed an iPhone 6 look-alike, and that may not be such a bad thing. For one, it comes as a good alternative to the high-end iPhone 6s as HTC CEO Cher Wang said so herself. The other fact, whether you would like to admit or not, is that there are Android fans out there who still admire the iPhone when it comes to design and creativity.

The event began with HTC’s Jason Mackenzie taking a dig at Apple’s iPhones having a lot of restrictions with what one can do with a phone, as well as commenting on Android’s bloatware. He then presented a video introducing the One A9. Next up was the designer who spoke about the the inspiration behind the phone, taking cues from the One M7, especially in the antenna front. The phone also “draws on the natural beauty around us by using rich, striking colors and unique finishes – an approach called “metalmorphics.” The dual finish is brushed with hairline detail and bread blasted before the sides are polished. The device is available in Carbon Gray, Opal Silver, Topaz Gold and Deep Garnet.

HTC has worked closely with Google in bringing the best of Android to the smartphone. The HTC One A9 is the first non-Nexus device to come pre-loaded with the Android 6.0 Marshmallow. And the company has cut down on preloaded apps, opting for a purer Android experience.

The official specs of the phone are pretty much the same as what leaks have suggested. The One A9 sports a 5-inch Full HD AMOLED display with Corning Gorilla Glass 4 with 1080 x 1920 resolution, a fingerprint sensor, 13-megapixel rear camera with low light OIS and also features a Hyperlapse editing tool. and a 4MP Ultrapbixel front and f/2.0 aperture. Nothing in the processor was revealed during the launch so you’ll have to wait a little longer for that but it is likely that the handset will feature a Snapdragon 617 processor.

On the design front, the HTC One A9 has a curved, aluminium unibody design with oblong SIM and MicroSD tray and plastic antenna lines at the back similar to the iPhone 6. It is also rightly pointed by HTC fans that Apple has previously taken cues from HTC, so this iPhone-like design levels the field. It also makes sense if you think about it. Yes, it is a blatant iPhone rip-off but it’s possibly a part of the company’s strategy. HTC knows that the iPhone 6 is one of the best-selling handsets around, and it just wants to bank on the same magic. But at a $399 price tag, we’re not sure whether consumers would go for the iPhone-ish One A9 or would rather spend a little more and go for the actual iPhone device.

The HTC One A9 is big on sound as well. The phone boasts of amazing sound quality, with HTC BoomSound integrated into the headset combined with Dolby Audio surround technology.

The One A9 will begin rolling out globally from the first week of November. HTC will offer a special unlocked edition in the U.S, and will ship with less pre-installed software. The price of the handset stands at $399.

So without further ado, here’s the spec table of the HTC One A9. Some specs were not revealed during the launch and will be added once official details are out.