We have heard a lot about the no-longer-upcoming HTC One M9 thanks to @upleaks via Twitter and his website. One of the other devices we have seen a rather large, pun intended, amount of was something he referred to as the HTC ‘Hima_Ultra’, which made it seem like an Ultra or Plus version of the One M9, whose codename was Hima. the device, which seemed to be garnering attention and gaining public appeal, has just had some news crashed on it, though. @upleaks let us all know this morning, just after the conclusion of HTC’s unveiling of their One M9 flagship, that the rumored ‘Hima_Ultra’would be corralled into China exclusively, and also offered some markets that it might come to as well. Saying that the device will not be seeing an out of Asia launch is a little disappointing, but this point it’s just a rumor.
He also said that Hima_Ultra would launch alongside the China-specific version of the One M9, which would utilize a MediaTek processor instead of the likely-globally-installed Snapdragon 810 from Qualcomm. The conference, whose date hasn’t yet been shared, will release the Chinese models of the HTC One M9, as well as the apparently-still-coming Hima_Ultra. The markets, at least the markets that will ‘at least’, qualify as Asian markets are Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia, meaning this device will have an interesting market appeal and target audience. @upleaks also mentions Hong Kong, so we know that China is still the reason it’ll get a separate launch and event, likely later this month.
A few days ago, we got to know from @upleaks that the Hima_Ultra would come in both a snapdragon- and MediaTek-powered variant, as well as the specifications of the Snapdragon-based model Hima_Ultra. It’ll apparently have a 5.2-inch QuadHD display, at 2560 by 1440 pixels, with the Snapdragon 810 inside, backed up with 3 gigabytes of RAM, as well as 32 gigabytes of internal storage. It’ll have the new Sense 7 overlay on top of Android 5.0 Lollipop, as well as some interesting camera options. It’ll either have an Ultrapixel or 13 megapixel front-facing, and a 20 and 2.1 megapixel back-facing array. Hopefully, there is no second lens, which is suggested by the two sets of numbers. Also worth noting is that the device will have, despite the larger and more pixel-dense screen, the same 2840 mAh battery that is inside the One M9. The fingerprint will in fact be on the Hima_Ultra as well. And, for those curious of the MediaTek offering, it’ll also have the same internals, just powered by a MediaTek MT6795, which will be hitting China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia.
It should be noted that these are all leaks and rumors, with no proof as of yet, but @upleaks hasn’t been too wrong yet so they should hold at least some water. Would you, if the Hima_Ultra does in fact come out choose the M9 or the ‘M9 Ultra’? which do you think would do better globally, especially given HTC’s affinity for battery (and the by-the-numbers lack of it in the Hima_Ultra). It was said two days ago that it would be hitting the U.S., but will it now? Let us know down below.