In 2014, HTC released the One M8 device and in 2015, they released the follow up handset, the One M9. Around and about the same time, the company also released the HTC One M8S, a slightly revised variant of the original One M8 featuring a different chipset but otherwise similar features and design. For 2016, the flagship One M9 has been replaced with the HTC 10. Again, HTC have released a modified variant of the former flagship handset: this year, we have the HTC One M9 Prime Camera Edition, which has been revealed on the HTC Germany website. Again, like the One M8 and M8S, the One M9 Prime Camera Edition uses a different internal hardware configuration and there are two major differences, the chipset and the main camera assembly.
For 2015, HTC gave the One M9 the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 chipset backed up with 3 GB of RAM. This is a 64-bit flagship System-on-Chip consisting of two quad-core clusters of application processors. One cluster consists of the high performance ARM Cortex-A57 design and the lower tier cluster uses the ARM Cortex-A53 core design. Unfortunately, although powerful the Snapdragon 810 also proved to produce a lot of heat and under load, was typically forced to shut down the higher performance cluster and instead operated using the lower performance ARM Cortex-A53 cores operating at the 1.5 GHz point. For 2016’s rebooted One M9, HTC have used the MediaTek Helio X10 chipset, which uses eight ARM Cortex-A53 processor cores clocked at up to 2.2 GHz. The Helio X10 is backed up by 2 GB of RAM, rather than the 3 GB that the One M9 came with. The device also includes 16 GB of local storage (with around half available for user content) plus a MicroSD card, which supports capacities of up to 2 TB.
The other significant change from the One M9 is the rear camera. For the original One M9, HTC used a 20MP rear sensor under a sapphire lens assembly. For the 2016 One M9 Prime Camera Edition, HTC have used a 13MP rear sensor equipped with optical image stabilisation and the software includes the ability to shoot in RAW format. On paper at least, this 13MP sensor and lens assembly looks very similar to the HTC One A9, which is considered to offer a better photography experience compared with the M9. As with the 2015 One M9, the later version includes the 4MP front facing UltraPixel camera. The One M9 Prime Camera Edition uses a similar MicroUSB port for power and data connectivity, a 2,840 mAh internal rechargeable battery, a 5.0-inch, 1080p resolution display, HTC’s BoomSound stereo speaker set up. It runs Android under HTC’s proprietary Sense overlay.
Initial pricing shows the device as costing around €550 and the device will be available in three colours: gold, gold on silver and gunmetal grey, in a design and chassis that looks identical to the original One M9.
