The upcoming HTC flagship is probably one of the most exciting smartphone launches scheduled for the next couple of months, and today Phandroid has shared photos that claim to show the rumored “Hima” device in the flesh. There’s nothing crazy or exciting to see here, but we do now have a bit of corroboration of things we knew previously.
Bloomberg on Monday reported that Taiwanese handset maker HTC will unveil its flagship One M9 smartphone and first smartwatch in March. HTC is widely expected to announce the new products at Mobile World Congress as part of its press event scheduled for March 1st.
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HTC acknowledges that it needs more than high-end handsets
While HTC technically ended 2013 in profit, the company says that declining margins are likely to see it end the first quarter of this year with a loss. HTC reported a wafer-thin profit of $10M from revenues of $1.4B, the latter figure 28 percent down year-on year. Its global market share of shipments was just two percent.
Reuters reports that the company plans to make a wider range of more affordable phones – the same strategy used by Samsung. Samsung made most of its money last year from a combination of its chip-manufacturing business and low- to mid-range handsets, and has itself come under pressure from low-cost competitor handsets …
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T-Mobile made things official today for the Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G, a 3.97-inch device with a high-end camera and processor specs with an entry-level price. Landing in late March on T-Mobile for $149.99 (after $50 mail-in rebate and a two-year commitment), the Galaxy S Blaze 4G packs a 3.97-inch Super AMOLED display, 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S3 processor, and 5-megapixel camera (1.3mp front camera) with flash, “advanced shooting modes,” and 4x digital zoom.
Its 4G capabilities means 42Mbps HSPA+ support, and it will run Android 2.3 out of the box. We will most likely see even more of the device following Mobile World Congress kicking off later this month in Barcelona. The Galaxy S Blaze 4G is definitely looking like a decent option for those wanting a powerful Android device under $150 (or likely much cheaper at Amazon).
The full press release and a gallery are below:
