In a German press release issued today, HTC announced it will release a Dual-SIM variant of their popular HTC One M8 phone next week in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Russia is rumored to get it soon after.
The only thing different about this phone versus the original M8 will be the support for two SIM cards; however, this addition packs quite a price increase. The original M8 sells for €570 (about $778), while the dual-SIM version will retail for €799 (about $1,091). You don’t even have to dig out your calculators to see that something doesn’t quite add up. While the M8 is a quality smartphone, I’m not totally sure that supporting an extra SIM card is worthy of a 40% price increase.
One distinct advantage of being able to use two SIM cards on one phone is just that, where normally you would carry two phones, now you only have to tote around one. And if you really love the M8 but have two separate lines like a business in addition to a personal line, you wouldn’t need to buy another phone. It’s a pretty simple concept to grasp until you start looking at the logistics of the price hike.
Worldwide, dual-SIM phones have steadily gained in popularity, especially when you realize that entire countries in Europe aren’t much bigger than our states here in the U.S. and travel between them is just about as common. The main difference here is that when I travel from Texas to Oklahoma, I’m still in AT&T’s coverage area; but it’s also the same story when traveling from L.A. to New York. Geographically speaking, we don’t have as much need for two SIM cards. Another major reason for the lack of this type of phone is carriers. A dual-SIM phone has the potential to be used on two different networks. Not only is that a problem with different radio frequencies used by different carriers but by the carriers themselves not wanting you to use your phone on the competition’s airwaves.
After saying all of this, you want to know what the funny part about it is? The dual-SIM HTC One M8 will probably never be released here in the U.S., any way. So why should it bother us? Let’s let the Europeans deal with it.