Rob Kerr of mobile technology site Omio published an article this morning detailing discussions he had with HTC‘s Head of UK and Ireland, Phil Roberson, at Mobile World Congress last week. Roberson states quite clearly that HTC intends to release mid-range and low-end phones in 2013, packing as much of the technology and software from their flagship HTC One as they can.
It’s almost certain that every phone to come out of HTC’s labs this year will carry Sense 5 and Blinkfeed, but apparently HTC are looking at packing in the Ultrapixel camera as well.
Wherever the technology is possible, we’re looking to take as much of the technology and enrich all of our customers.
This seems a bit at-odds with what we’ve been hearing from HTC about their 2013 lineup – that the One is their “only” device – however it seems likely that they actually meant that the One is their only “high end” device. In 2012 HTC released a series of high-end devices under the “One” name, and a series of low-end and mid-range devices under the “Desire” name. It seems likely that this strategy may continue into 2013, although hopefully they’ll stick with one high-end device.
Obviously, some of HTC’s new features – such as Blinkfeed – don’t require new, expensive technology – HTC have already indicated that they’ll bring Sense 5 and as much of its trimmings as possible to older devices, such as the One X, so it’ll be interesting to see what features HTC will actually bring to their lower-end devices.
I can see the value of HTC bringing their newer innovative features to cheaper devices – after all, 4.7″ screens and $700 phones aren’t for everyone. However, I am concerned that HTC is going to again flood the market with similarly-specced handsets with confusing names, and I’m skeptical that any of these devices will see updates to future versions of Android.
Am I being too cynical? Would you buy a cheaper, ‘mini’ version of the HTC One? Let us know in the comments.
YES!! yes yes yes. I am htc loyal and want a mid range (<$300) phone that wont outdate/sh*t itself in 6 months time. at the moment i'm looking at the SGS3 Mini, but would much rather an HTC One "Mini".
When do you think they will come out??? Is this year: November, or this year: April….????
I won’t buy a “flagship” phone because they are all too big. I’d love a mid-range htc phone around the 4″ or less mark, but they’re just not making them.
No I personally don’t like the idea of mid range phones. I think Apple definitely has the right idea here. Introduce ONE flagship product per year (or sooner – maybe a 9 month product cycle for us impatient early adopters) and then just sell the previous model as the “mid range” affordable model. HTC just confuses and annoys people otherwise.
This way they don’t unnecessarily tool up for mid range phones that may not sell as well as the flagship models, and the longer they’ve been on the market/the more phones sold, the more their production costs drop.
Depends what you mean by “mid range”. You can get a HTC with 1+GHz dual core, 1 gig ram, decent-ish camera for $300 bucks outright ($29 cap). You can get a One X on a $49 cap. And soon you will get the One on the $59 cap. I really am thankful that HTC and android cater to all price points. Apple don’t have a “mid range” imho. The iPhone 4 is a POS compared to its competition and still costs $400+. The 4s is still at least $50 a month if you’re willing to get it on Vodafail. I… Read more »
Agreed! As long as they have the One, and then pick a completely different name for their mid-range phones, rather than One [insert random letter], they’ll probably do alright.
Blinkfeed is harmless as long as you can tuck it away out of sight.
I’ve lived through Xperias with Timescape. Pretty but I never needed it.
It just branded the phone in the shop.
Let me drag it to the trash after I’ve bought it.
is ultra- pixel successful r just other trick
It’s good. From what I’ve observed on YouTube anyway.
I’m skeptical of the detail provided by the Ultrapixel camera – test shots taken at the launch event disappointed me a bit, but the lighting conditions were far from ideal. We’ll definitely be putting it through its paces.