- HTC One A9 is also known as HTC Aero
- Described as "hero product"
- Likely to be thin, with camera advances
- Expected Oct/Nov 2015
Or at least that's what all the latest reports, rumours, and leaks have indicated. And if they're all in fact right, you can expect the Taiwanese phone maker to introduce a new smartphone codenamed "Aero". More recently however, we keep hearing the name HTC One A9. It's therefore unclear what it will be called.
But here's everything we know so far...
HTC's next flagship name
First we heard reports of a new device called HTC Aero. We know that HTC is planning a "hero product" for an October 2015 launch and it was assumed that Aero was it.We've seen mentions of Aero from a number of sources, and even the term Hima Aero from @LlabTooFeR, who nailed a number of HTC leaks previously. Hima was the codename for the HTC One M9, suggesting that Aero is an evolution of the existing handset, rather than a complete reinvention.
We then heard the name HTC O2 drop. It's been reported that HTC won't be using the name One M10, instead opting for O2, with the suggestion from PocketNow that "O2" could mean "second gen One" or something similar. Many are suggesting that O2 might be a move to clear up the naming mess that One has become and once again focus on a more coherent flagship strategy.
It's pretty easy to draw a line between Aero and O2 thanks to their airy names, although it's not clear if these devices are the same thing, or if one is the expected late-2015 update and the other the next 2016 device.
Then we heard the name HTC One A9, suggesting that O2 was the 2016 model, and One A9 was the market name for Aero.
In short, it's too early to tell, but there certainly seems to be some je ne sais quoi surrounding Aero, which we believe to be HTC's next phone, and HTC One A9 might be the name it has when it hits the shelves. That seems to have been confirmed by @evleaks, and the name HTC One A9 has stuck.
According to Evan Blass (@evleaks), HTC will introduce the HTC Aero in the fourth quarter of this year, which means it'll launch some time between October and December. In another tweet however, Blass said it will release in early November, and Sprint will be at least one of the network operators to carry it.
Cher Wang, CEO and chairwoman at HTC, recently revealed to employees and shareholders that a new "hero product" will launch in the smartphone segment this October. She didn't specifically refer to or name the Aero during her announcement, but after Blass leaked the Aero's launch timeframe, it's not hard to connect the dots.
HTC also has a history of releasing phones around this time: we saw the HTC One max and the HTC Desire Eye launch around October time. At the moment, we think there will be a launch event for HTC One A9 in late October with availability in early November.
HTC One A9/Aero design
@evleaks described the Aero as "intermediate" and a part of the "One" brand of flagships, meaning it could just end up being an updated, mid-range variant of the HTC One M9.Despite what Blass indicated, several reports painted the Aero out to be something totally different and new and high-end (probably because HTC's CEO said there would be a new "hero" handset coming in October 2015). Then we have that Tweet (above) from @LlabTooFeR, saying that Aero would be thin, suggesting something of a redesign.
There has news from Mobile-Dad, suggesting an thinner, enhanced design, with two colours available, gold and dark grey.
The biggest element, however, is the removal of what's referred to as the "double chin". This is where you have an additional bar at the bottom of the display that currently carries the HTC logo but serves no other purpose (in the past it was the site of capacitive buttons).
We've yet to see this design, but it sounds like the display will run right down to where it meets the BoomSound speaker assembly. That's not what we see in these images, but we're sure there will be plenty more leaks to come.
HTC One A9 specs
The first details to surface suggested a device with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 chipset and 4GB of ram. The SD820 is Qualcomm's very latest chip and is yet to make its debut. The timeline for this new chipset points to late-2015 or early-2016, probably too soon for a device that will be available in November.However, new information suggests that HTC Aero/One A9 will have a MediaTek Helio X20 10-core processor. The HTC One A9 has allegedly appeared on a GeekBench benchmark test that Chinese website Juggly has screengrabbed. And if true, it shows that the forthcoming, much rumoured, handset will have a deca-core Helio X20 processor. In addition, the phone might have 4GB of RAM.
The MediaTek MT6797 (Helio X20) chipset runs eight ARM Cortex A53 cores and two ARM Cortex A72 cores. The former consists of four running at 1.4GHz, with the other four at 2.0GHz. The A72 cores run at 2.5GHz. HTC turned to MediaTek for the HTC One M9+, so MediaTek for the One A9 is perfectly believable.
Apart from that that, HTC is one of the few manufacturers still offering a microSD card slot, so we'd expect that to stay and we'd hope to see at least 32GB of storage as standard.
It's also been suggested that a 3,500mAh battery could make an appearance, but that runs counter to having a thin design - unless we're looking at a phablet with a large display.
HTC One A9 display
A Vietnamese source has suggested that HTC Aero will have a 2560 x 1440 Quad HD display, topped with Gorilla Glass 4, and that it would be a 2.5D display. There's no mention of the size, so there's no telling exactly where this smartphone sits. The 2.5D display has been the focus of separate musings.The resolution is no surprise and HTC has a 5.2-inch Quad HD display on the HTC One M9+. But Aero could be a phablet, with a 6-inch display. There's currently no premium phablet in HTC's line-up and rumours around HTC O2 mentioned a 6-inch size.
Currently there simply isn't enough information.
HTC One A9 camera
Reports out of Vietnam have suggested HTC Aero will bring a revolutionary new camera technology. Keep in mind we've seen HTC trying a number of different approaches to the camera in the past. The HTC One M7, for instance, introduced the UltraPixel sensor and the HTC One M8 paired it with a second sensor for depth.The HTC One M9+ offers a regular 20-megapixel camera (as in the M9), as well as the Duo Camera sensor for extra shooting modes on demand, with UltraPixel on the front.
UltraPixel increased the pixel sizes to allow more light and certainly worked in some environments. Aero is said to be an even bigger breakthrough. Vietnamese website HTCViet claimed the new camera will have an f/1.9 aperture and can store photographs as raw files, although raw shooting is on the One M9, so that's hardly revolutionary.
The camera is the weakness of the current flagship the M9, so it's the thing that HTC has to absolutely and unquestionably perfect in its next handset.
HTC One A9 software
Little has so far been said about the software that HTC One A9 might launch with, but coming so close to launch of Android 6.0 Marshmallow, we doubt it will be treated to Google's latest software.This much has been suggested on Twitter by @LlabTooFeR, who claims that HTC One A9 will launch with Android 6.0 and Sense 7.
There are likely to be a number of tweaks to HTC Sense that debut on HTC Aero and the roll-out to other existing HTC devices, like the One M9.
HTC One A9 price
There's no leaked information yet in regards to pricing. The HTC One M9, which is HTC's latest flagship smartphone, costs £579. HTC has a history of rather expensive phones, focusing on selling premium design.There's been a shift towards offering greater value through the Desire range in recent years - often with specs that match the flagship but without the price. The chatter of intermediate vs hero suggests that HTC Aero couldbe more affordable.
Then there was a tweet from @Ricciolo1, who has provided an insight to unreleased products in the past, suggesting that HTC's big play here will be towards price: "As always,it's hard to BEAT htc in terms of design,+new"ONE"is truly HEROIC...the real trick? the PRICE.. ;) #HTCAero". That tweet has since been deleted, however.
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