The HTC One M9e gets officially unveiled in China, specs do not impress
Earlier today, HTC announced yet another one of its reconfigured One M9 versions aimed at Asian markets. The HTC One M9e specs place the phone in the mid-range segment of the Chinese smartphone market. Given the stiff competition from local phone manufacturers, the price of the HTC One M9e, of about $425, surprisingly high.
Tmall, an Alibaba-backed popular online retailer in China, has just announced the availability of the HTC One M9e along with all of the smartphone's hardware specifications. As the name suggests, the design and the build of the phone is borrowed from the One M9, complete with the premium aluminum build and the stereo Boomsound speakers on the front. Another similarity between the regular M9 and the new version is the display, a 5-inch Super LCD panel running at a resolution of 1080 by 1920 pixels (fullHD).
On the inside, most of the high-end components used on the One M9 have been substituted for toned down counterparts, such as a MediaTek MT6795T "Helio X10" chipset, 2GB of RAM, and 16GB of expandable internal storage. In the camera department, the HTC One M9e appears to come with the same setup as the One A9: a 13MP primary camera with OIS and 1080p video recording on the front and a 4MP "Ultrapixel" on the back. On the software side, the HTC One M9e will run the company's Sense UI on top of Android 5.0 Lollipop.
Tmall prices the HTC One M9e at CNY 2,700, or about $425 at the current conversion rates, which appears to be a steep price given the phone's specifications. For comparison, Tmall sells the One M9ew - a phone with hardware upgrades such as a QHD display, 3GB of RAM, and 32GB of internal storage - for CNY 2,658. At this point, it's unclear if HTC will sell the One M9e outside of the Asian continent.
What do you guys think of the HTC One M9e?
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