HTC this morning announced that its forthcoming One Max phone will be available exclusively from Telstra from November 26.
Garry McGregor, HTC’s AU/NZ Sales Director, was quoted:
We’re excited to announce that the latest addition to the HTC One family in the form of HTC One max is now available in Australia. We now have an HTC One phone for everyone.
The One Max is the giant-sized version of HTC’s popular 2013 flagship device, the HTC One. It sports similar internals with a 5.9-inch 1080p screen and a fingerprint scanner on the back of the device. It’s also loaded up with the latest version of HTC’s Sense software (version 5.5).
HTC’s advised that the phone will be exclusive to Telstra, although Telstra’s Andrew Volard said the carrier was “thrilled to be the first carrier in Australia to offer the HTC One Max” — perhaps this exclusivity has an expiration date, given that Optus previously expressed interest in the device?
Telstra has added a One Max pre-order page to their site. Customers pre-ordering before November 26 will receive a free Beats Pill speaker with an RRP of $260, which should sweeten the deal somewhat as you’ll be looking at an $80/month contract whether you’re a personal or business user.
Prices ending in a 6 seem to be all the rage at Telstra at the moment, as the device is also available for outright purchase for $816.
We went hands-on with the One Max a few weeks ago, but we’ll reserve final judgement until we get our hands on a review unit.
This morning’s announcement contained reference to the HTC Power Flip Case – an accessory with a built in 1150 mAh battery that can significantly extend the One Max’s battery life – but made no reference to the Bluetooth handset we played with last month, nor the BoomBass external speakers. We’ll check with HTC about Australian availability of these accessories and update when we have the information.
Are you interested in the One Max? Will you be getting it on-contract with Telstra? Let us know in the comments!
Interested in the phone but not interested in a $80 contract. Maybe around $50-60 but definitely not $80. I wonder what other options will be available