HTC One M9 ‘mini’ Variant Not Planned, Says Company Executive

An HTC executive has indicated the Taiwanese firm is not planning to make a One M9 mini or One mini 3 handset, quelling speculation that a mini-variant of the handset was in the works as seen in previous iterations.

Speaking at the launch of the 5.2-inch HTC One M9+ in Taiwan, HTC North Asia President Jack Tong spoke about the evolving trend towards larger screened smartphones. “Overall the industry is moving towards new phones over 5 inches in size and our product roadmap is close to that of the industry,” Tong said, as quoted by Focus Taiwan.

To put that in perspective, the HTC One M9 features a 5-inch display, while the HTC One E9+ features a 5.5-inch display.

Thus far, HTC’s One flagship smartphones, namely the HTC One and HTC One (M8), have featured mini variants, called the HTC One mini and HTC One mini 2 respectively. The latter was never officially launched in India, while the former was launched at Rs. 36,970, not too much cheaper than its full-fledged sibling the HTC One, which was launched at Rs. 42,900.

Also notable, is that HTC has chosen not to launch its newest flagship smartphone in India, and instead gone with its slightly larger, higher-resolution variant, the One M9+, which also features an octa-core MediaTek MT6795T processor instead of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 SoC on the HTC One M9.

The company last week unveiled perhaps the most high-end handset it will this year, the HTC Butterfly (HTV31) for Japan, expected to be launched globally as the HTC Butterfly 3 following previous naming schemes. It features both a 5.2-inch QHD display and a Snapdragon 810 SoC.