Typical – you wait a year for the new HTC One (M8) and then 3 turn up at once. Well, at least that’s what we’ve heard on the grapevine. And producing variants of a popular flagship phone has worked for Samsung, so why not for HTC?
First up is HTC’s budget version of the One M8, the HTC One M8 Ace. The rumours are that internally the M8 Ace will be similar if not identical to the specs boasted by the One M8. The M8 Ace is expected to feature a 5-inch 1080p resolution Full HD display, a 2.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor as well as 2GB of RAM.
The main difference between the two handsets is likely to be in looks and design. Images of the M8 Ace published online show it to have a bright and colourful plastic type of design instead of the uni-body metallic premium look of the original One M8 handset. It also looks like the M8 Ace will come with some curved contours compared to its more expensive stable mate. The other main difference between the two handsets is that the M8 Ace is thought to only have a single camera on the rear unlike the dual cameras on the One M8. It will however come with the superb BoomSound speakers and we could see it launch as early as the beginning of June.
Next up is a premium version of the already fairly premium HTC One M8 which is expected to be called the HTC One M8 Prime. The M8 Prime is rumoured to be bigger, faster and very handily waterproof compared to the original M8. It’s thought that the M8 Prime handset will be able to snap photos and film video underwater thanks to its waterproof membrane. It will also come with a 5.5-inch QHD screen – which makes it half an inch bigger than the One M8 – with a whopping resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels (534 ppi). The M8 Prime is likely to be more powerful than the M8 with a quad-core 2.5GHz Snapdragon 805 processor, 3GB of RAM and 6 LTE capabilities.
The M8 Prime is anticipated to also feature two rear cameras and a 5-megapixel front-facing snapper. It’s expected that a newer version of HTC’s Sense user interface, Sense 6.5 could launch with this new handset. Look out for the M8 Prime sometime around September.
