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While it’s hard to say how well, exactly, the HTC One M9 is doing in terms of sales, it’s still rather easy to get a rough idea. For the HTC One M9, the idea couldn’t get any rougher — the company is reportedly cutting back on component orders by a whopping 30% thanks to less-than-expected sales. That’s the word coming out of DigiTimes, a reputable Taiwanese tech publication whose ear is kept close to the component industry.
It hasn’t been easy going for HTC in the early parts of 2015, with the general public perception being that the HTC One M9 gives no compelling reason to upgrade from an HTC One M8, or from any 2014 flagship for that matter. They also have to deal with stiff competition from Samsung and LG who have successfully created 2015 flagships with enough innovation and advancement to capture the public interest.
And none of that is to mention the rise of Chinese manufacturers who are steadily producing better and better phones at more affordable price points. We’re not sure what all this will translate to in an HTC financial report in a couple of monts, but we’re betting it won’t look great. In fact, the company’s stock on the Taiwan Stock Exchange is now at the lowest it’s been in over 10 years at roughly $3.40 per share.
HTC will have to hope their dual-pronged strategy of releasing an upgraded version of the main flagship can help turn things around, though considering the HTC One M9+’s availability is limited to China we can’t say there’s much hope there.
I think there’s like two people surprised about this.
woah woah, sounds like you are overestimating there
you would think so but based on the response to me bashing htc’s ridiculous amount of bezeling I’d say he’s grossly underestimating lol
LMAO dude they compete for the biggest bezels in the marketplace
compete? just give them the win lol…they need one right now lmao
along with SONY
I’m not surprised, its a nice phone and its just as fast as any other phone. I just think people see all of these other phones with higher numbers, and think its going to be better for them to go another route. Not to say the phone sucks….but why upgrade from your M8 really?
Let me get this straight… You release a regurgitated design with few improvements over the previous gen product (and in some cases it actually devolved) and sales aren’t good?
OK, I think I am starting to understand how business works now… Someone should inform HTC of this amazing discovery /s
agreed. Even Sammy seen how the trend treats them and thought better. not to say they are destroying records but they are still raking it in! HTC really need to hit the drawing board and innovate. you can only tend to the fans so much, you need to tend to new customers for a change to draw them in.
they basically thought they struck gold with the m7 and haven’t really innovated since
agree. lack of innovation should be their slogan for sure!
I’d rather have new models every other year, with variants feeling in the middle ground. Even if they had released a better phone than my M8, it would have to be radically or significantly better for me to even consider upgrading.
i’m with you, I find myself switching brands every 12 months. (Sammy, Lumia, LG, Moto and now Nexus). I find the next years offerings of any device just meh and always look elsewhere too often.
There is no reason for a manufacturer to release a slightly upgraded phone every year anymore. The tech is no longer changing that quickly.
If manufactures would just support their phones better they should easily be able to sell the same phone for a couple years while benefiting from the reduction of cost per unit vs manufacturing something new. I totally agree with the variant idea.
that’s ridiculous and wholly removed from reality…every week technology is being pushed further…just because Apple can get away with incremental upgrades with their brainwashed flock doesn’t mean that’s the way technology works…HTC used to be a “first” to do it company and that’s when they were making money…the reason you THINK technology isn’t advancing as quickly while its actually accelerating is because companies have bought into Apple’s nickle and diming of their customer base business model…despite all evidence that Apple is and has been guilty of slow-walking tech you can still find someone with an iPhone 5 who thinks they’re actually on the cutting edge…perception == reality
What have you seen so compelling in the last couple years? Other than small bumps in screen, battery, processor, camera there has been NOTHING worthy of an upgrade hardware wise in the past 2-3 years. Front facing speakers, fingerprint scanners, and dual sided/triple sided/curved screens maybe, but not much. The smartphone market is stagnant until hopefully Ara changes that.
If you compare the same phones that release in a single calendar year, they may seem like negligible upgrades, but if say there has been nothing “worthy” of a hardware upgrade in 2-3 years, then that is by far and away your own opinion, not a fact.
tech that’s actually been adopted and made it to the end users? not much…there is a whole lot of tech catching dust waiting to be adopted or “innovated” by Apple (ie. siri, fingerprint scanning)…these “innovative” features often languish in obscurity for years as far as end users are concerned until some brave OEM decides to adopt it (and actually stick with it)…but like i said: OEMs have bought into Apple’s way of doing things which is to slow walk tech…incremental baby steps instead of the new groundbreaking features (some would call them gimmicks) that set Android apart in the early days…remember the days when HTC was pushing the envelope with 3D screens and cameras? people can say what they want but they were selling phones then lol…
Even in the past, I usually purchased a new phone for access (quicker or otherwise) to new versions of Android. Hardware has reached a point where, outside of battery life upgrades, I don’t really care all that much.
I think they should pull a Sony on the One and update the Phone before the year is out ….. What do y’all think?
The article states that there is little reason to upgrade from their last phone and your want them to release yet another phone? No I think that’s a bad Idea. I think they should continue supporting their older phones because they are perfectly fine.
yup…and actually make a groundbreaking phone again…
The idea is to get people to buy the newer device. They make no profit with people keeping older phones.
But there’s no reason for anyone to upgrade to this phone. I’ve had a few glances at the S6 Edge, I won’t lie. I love the idea of it.
But this is the first year in a while I haven’t felt inclined to upgrade my phone. This is saying a lot for me personally.
They did… Its the m9+ which is only available in China.
I hope this means they’re going to sell out for the M10 the way it felt like they sold out for the M7.
it might mean they wont last long enough for the M10
how long can a turd circle the drain?
they need to start listening to all the customers they’ve turned off instead of the handful they’ve been left with who find nothing wrong with all that #BEZEL
TROLLLOLOLOLOL
#victorylap
#iwasrightagain
Another factor why Samsung and Apple are popular are the resale value after 1 or 2 years. HTC and LG seem to really loose value.. meanwhile the Samsung and Apple phones can still fetch good $$.
resale value has nothing to do with reality…it’s all about perception and the value people place on the product…apple consistently spends less on the iPhone than android OEMs do on their flagships yet they have higher resale value simply because people who want an iPhone want one really bad (yes, an android flagship usually has more ACTUAL value)…so while it “seems” they lose value its just that people don’t want them as much…a HUGE part of that is that unlike Apple android OEMs usually make their last year’s model obsolete instead of barely updating their phone…
yeah totally agree. The used Galaxy S5’s command much more than the used LG or HTC’s.
Perceived value is what resale value is all about. HTC makes a great phone that no one knows or cares about, so its perceived value is low. Samsung and Apple also make great phones and they market them extremely well and everyone knows what they are. So their perceived value is higher. Where I disagree with you is the “Based on reality” thing.
What people are willing to pay for a used phone is their reality. No matter what they base their decision on to pay a higher price for used Samsung or Apple, the “reality” is Apple and Samsung fetch a higher price than HTC. That my friend is the reality of the situation.
I agree with you but there is only one reality my friend…everyone doesn’t have their own…they can have their own opinions and perceptions but reality is objective not subjective…words have meanings…use them wisely
I would never buy an used HTC M8, HTC solely because the non removable battery.
Exactly, unless Android manufactures can develop a quick & easy exchange/repair/replacement manufactures like crApple, I will avoid sealed batteries like the plague.
Yeap, i change samsung flagship phones every 6 months. I get them online for cheap eg. Bought note edge for $1099 AUD, sold it for $900 on Gumtree and there were 4 potential buyers texted me. So i lost $200 on my first phone. If i keep doing this every 6 months, 2 years — $200×4=$800, still cheaper than upgrading every 2 years which costs at least a thousand dollars. Thats why i love samsung having 2 flagship phones in a year.
Htc lost me this year and most likely for good. Traded in two m8’s for two s6 edge…
They lost me last year when the M8 came out. My second Android phone after the Galaxy Nexus was the HTC One M7, then LG G3. I’m actually going to go and use a Galaxy S5 now.. mainly because of the Screen/Battery/SD-Card and ‘glove’ mode!! haha. I never thought I’d see why an SD card was so useful until the past year.
M8/M9 has SD card support and pretty much the same battery as the S5. Most people/reviewers preferred the M8 over the S5 last year and after having mine for a year now I’m very happy with my decision. But I’ll admit that the M9 was really disappointing and if I had to replace it right now it would probably be with the S6. But I don’t see a reason to replace my M8 for a while still. The front facing speakers alone make it more enjoyable than any other phone I’ve tried so far.
Yes, I did miss the speakers and the ZOE app when I moved from HTC, but I have speakers in the workshop which I can plug in and also BT ones. I use headphones elsewhere. HTC put ZOE in the Play Store so I was happy about that. At least the M9 supports “Glove” mode.
Which I am after.
I, too have an m8 and am largely happy with it (love the speakers, hate the camera). I was also underwhelmed by the m9, so, if I had to replace it right now, I would look at the lg g4.
Not feeling sorry for HTC. All phones now are pretty good at basic functions, so (unfortunately or not) aesthetics play an important role in people’s phone purchases. When they chose to keep the unbalanced big black bar design, samsung said “Why yes, we will eat more of your lunch”. There were so many spectacular mockups that received great reviews that there is no excuse for what they chose to do with the design of the m9. Even if it’s meant slightly less volume from a smaller amplifier, as htc has put forth as an excuse, they should have done something very different.
I don’t understand how they still haven’t figured out what to do with the space left by the obsolescence of capacitive buttons…it’s embarrassing that they waste all that space with nothing but a logo…meanwhile they’re still being lavished with design awards…irony of ironies
Crazy right? One of their excuses was needing more room for components like the amplifier, but obviously nobody is buying it (pun intended).
My guess is that they don’t listen to consumers, but rather the tech industry. Because these are the only people that I know that keep raving over the design aspect.
A look at the teardowns show exactly what that functional space behind the black bar is for.
https://d3nevzfk7ii3be.cloudfront.net/igi/QxWJY16NFhVylTUm.medium
step right up for the “My Head Is So Far Up HTC’s *SS” award…that picture you linked to only proved my point!!!…that is NOT behind the black bar!!! That is behind the SPEAKER GRILLE!!!!
Now…try to keep up:
You see that SCREEN????…in THIS picture???…Do you NOT see that HUGE BEZEL at the bottom????…(not to mention the completely OBNOXIOUS top bezel that serves absolutely NO PURPOSE WHATSOEVER) There is. Nothing. Behind it. You see all those other components???…Guess where they go???….You see that big BLANK AREA on the “chassis”?? Yeahhhh…They go BEHIND THE SCREEN!!!!…Do you see an amplifier/speaker back there where the SCREEN fits???…Did all those “components” make it impossible for them to put a SCREEN above it?? NOOOOOO!!!!! There is not some mythical empty space behind the screen!! OK??? The fugly bezel DOES NOT cover the area where the amplifier/speaker or any other obstructing component sits. The BEZEL fits in the area ABOVE the amplifier/speaker!!!! Get it? Got it? Good!
now repeat after me:
There. Is. No. Reason. For. The. Huge. Bottom. Bezel. Other. Than. Their. Logo. PERIOD.
EVERY. Phone. Has. Components. In. That. Area. But. No. Other. Phone. Has. That. RIDICULOUS. Bezel.
Seems like all you Phandroid guys are good for is regurgitating corporate propaganda aka “press releases”. How about developing some kind of common sense and deductive reasoning skills, hmmm?
It could just be me, but if I was HTC, I’d fire everyone behind the M9. I have it, and I like it, but they made some pretty obvious mistakes with it. The whole “not changing the look of the phone because you want it to be like a luxury car” suggests a fundamental lack of understanding of what the smartphone enthusiasts like. Also, the camera isn’t so bad now, but before the updates, it was terrible. Knowing that the camera was the one thing universally disliked on the M8, there is no way they should have ever let it be viewed with those problems. Basically, the company was on fire coming from the M8 and the right choices with the M9 could have made them a major player. Instead, the pretty much undid all the good they had earned.
I Think it’s ashame development hasn’t really improved from year to year , my first two phones where HTC I loved them, I now own the M8 and love it also , but theres no reason to upgrade to the M9 minimal spec difference , as I said above I think it is ashame the moves the company is or isn’t making , I also own an Nexus 6 and a Note 4 Edge , and guess what when it comes down to it my go to phone is my M8 ………
Lets review M7 was a show stopper. M8 WoW except for that camera. M9 new name same old problems as last phone a camera that takes bad pictures. Really HTC who decided it was a good idea to put a camera in a cell phone that takes bad pictures?. Here is the deal HTC. Bad Camera = You don’t get to call your Cell Phone a “Flagship” and charge people $600.00 plus dollars. They won’t buy it. Drop your price by $300.00 and you will sell them as is like hot cakes.
Plus when everyone else has 2K screen on it, a FHD is definitely NOT a flagship anymore.
2K on a cellphone screen is a buzzword feature. Visually the return is diminishing at that point, and instead is a battery drain.
If the screen were 7″ and larger, maybe it would matter. But 5.5″ and under? It’s a waste of power.
Let’s be real, yes, it’s looks prettier, but you can’t even see pixels. Which is why I find it funny. My trashy lg Optimus f6, a low to mid range phone, has a screen that looks similar to a galaxy s4. And my screen size isn’t even 1080. It’s lower. Something 700 x 500. Around there.
I assume you mean QHD not 2K (2K is 2048 x 1080, nobody uses that for phones). Either way, why would you need more than FHD for a 5″ screen? As for the M9 itself, I think the screen is an improvement over my old N5. They’re both 5″ FHD, but the M9 has better colors and does better in sunlight.
I haven’t had a “bad picture” from the M9 yet. It’s camera isn’t spectacular, but if one wants to take spectacular photos, one should buy an actual camera.
See, that’s a cop out, “buy an actual camera”, typical response! The price of the phone INCLUDES the camera, thus it SHOULD be just as good as the rest of the phone!
And how are you comparing the camera to the rest of the phone? Apples and oranges…
Stupid hTC comes with last year FHD display as their flagship. As soon as I heard about this, I knew it would sell like crap. We all KNOW we DON’T need a 2K screen, but if you get a 2K screen with the same price paid, general consumers will go for the 2K screen, it’s THAT simple. I already have 2K screen on my G3 and there is NO WAY I will downgrade myself back to a FHD. It DOES make a difference for me going back to FHD, no matter how you guys claimed about battery and normal usage can’t tell the differences.
M9 should be priced at about $400. Let me know when its price is halved lol.
I think the M9 is a beautiful and very capable phone. I think the FHD screen is good enough and the bezels don’t bother me. What bothers me is the sealed battery. Never going back to an HTC
” … the HTC One M9 gives no compelling reason to upgrade from an HTC One M8, or from any 2014 flagship for that matter. ” I’m pretty sure that’s not only HTC, but everyone in this release cycle. All the current flagships are small upgrades, not worthy of my upgrading from my 2013 device. I normally get a device every 6-12 months, not this year until the Yota finally brought something different.
Do you think the S6 is a small upgrade over the S5? No it isnt.
Yes, just like the 4 to 5. Why isn’t it? What innovation does it bring other than small spec jumps?
The Edge isn’t it, the Continuum had something similar.
What would you define as an upgrade. You don’t think supporting wireless charging and having fast charge is an upgrade? What about the build quality of the S6 over the S5? What are you talking about?
I’m not talking upgrades, I’m talking innovation. Batteries that last for days, not hours. Foldable/expandable screens. The smartphone industry seems to have plateaued. Yes UA techies want the latest and greatest, but we can now get by with what we had already. You look at the Moto G, Nexus 4, etc. running Lollipop smoothly and you second guess that ‘flagship’.
Wireless charging has been around, just because it took Samsung forever to join doesn’t mean they should be praised.
Fast charge already comes part of the processor and battery upgrades. Yes it’s cool, but not necessarily a must have or sought after (just look at the Apple crowd). It’s only a bandaid, I still prefer a longer lasting battery over a faster charging one. But it seems we’re far away from the battery tech we need.
So Samsung had bad build quality before? Build quality is subjective and you’re on an HTC M9 article. A few prefer those fancy unibody metal designs either way. As for me, I always use cases so it doesn’t matter either way.
The problem here is that you think that you’re opinion is a generality whereas you think the build quality improvement, built in wireless charging, fast charge, fingerprint scanner, New 64 bit exynos SoC, killer 16 mp camera etc.. are just improvements, many other see them as big upgrades compared to their predecessor.
That’s what brings us to the M9, it has pretty much no improvements over the M8. Display is the same, camera is arguably worse because it doesn’t perform as well in low lighting conditions, battery life is worse even though the battery size is bigger, The S810 suffers from heating issues and throttles vs the S801 which performs amazingly on the M8.
We were talking about upgrades/improvements. You’re talking about innovation. If you think they will innovate every 10-12 month cycle then your expectations are a little bit too high. And besides, I think the S6 edge is an innovation in terms of design.
I never said I spoke to the consensus. My first post is quoting someone else’s opinion, and I start replying with ‘I’m’, not we the people.
I’m not going to shoot down yours even tho I don’t agree with it. I should have started with *disclaimer* ‘I don’t like Samsung’.
I’m not defending HTC, but I don’t think we can support and accept the trickle of upgrades we’re getting from Android OEMs, they’re adopting the Apple method of big talk no walk.
You’ve accepted mediocrity and set the bar too low IMHO. But it seems you’re a Samsung fan so you’ll take anything they give. To each his own. I’ll be waiting on Ara to build my potential dream phone.
You don’t like samsung so your opinion isn’t objective but more bias. And I’m not a fan of any brand, I took samsung as an example because they clearly upgrade the S6 over the S5 pretty much across the board minus a couple of things.
You just have to be a little more realist here, you expect t huge innovation with each iteration and i don’t think it is reasonable. No one does that. But improvements are definitely needed. In the case of the M9 (since this article is about the M9) it just doesn’t offer anything of an upgrade over the MI. Really, in my opinion there isn’t a single reason to get the M9 over the M8 and i try to be as fair as possible. Not the build quality, not the camera, not the ever so slightly minor design tweaks…none of that. The G4 does have some worthy improvements. For one it has a much better SoC to power the QHD display, the camera is a big upgrade. The S6 is a Huge upgrade over the S5. All the things J mentioned before. But to each his own.
Man, just shut up. You voiced your opinion, so Steve voiced his and now your complaing that his opinions are stupid? Wow, that’s just dumb. And honestly, I agree with Steve. Longer battery life is more important that a short battery life with wireless chargijg and fast charging. I mean, and who uses the heartbeat sensor, the dual sim (I travel to China so I need another sim, even so, dual sim is useless), a fingerprint scanner, curved edges,etc.its all pointless. IN MY OPINION, phone companies are focusing moreon who has mmore random gadgets, who has the slickest looking design, whose screen has the largest ppi, and so on and on and on. Looks it’s a phone. It’s not a TV so you don’t need 2k on a phone (also, drains that quick charge battery like a mo fo), you don’t need a octo core with 4 gb or ram (also, sd 810 has been proven to be cooler, so this phone overheats is a bull excuse)I mean, your not going to play gta 5 on a phone or something, and clearly apple with its 1 gb or ram can run games juts as Smooth, packing in more cores and ram is stupid. Why not optimize the cpu cores and ram usage so the phone is actually faster. That would be better than having great specs paper wise.the phone market is past its time of being better and actually improving. Now, it’s just for shows and all. For example, Samsung. The note, might as well hold your iPad next to your head. The Galaxy edge. Not only does it have a worse force resistant than iPhone 6 (glass cracks easily on the edge due to its edge(s)), but it also has glares, sharper edges to hold onto, a terrible feel in the hand, and distortions. It’s not innovation, it’s just for shows. I’m sorry for this long comment, but I just want to say, a lot of this, to me, isn’t innovation, it’s, idk what to call it, a fashion trend. Yes, some phones are good, but they are following this, smaller battery, slimmer, more gadgets the better, stupid fashion trend. That’s all I have to say. Night.
Suck my D*ck and make me shut up. I won’t bother reading your whole post. But I’m sure you’ll read my first line ;). And why post your opinion? I don’t care about it.
Man, I’m glad to see your parents taught you some manner you ignorant 8 year old. Have fun hiding behind your pc and being a dumb little troll, hating on others opinions, and being disrespectful to others. I feel sorry for you.
Had you come with respect like an adult and gave your opinion, I would have returned the respect to you and gladly discuss things. But when you come by saying “man shut up man” and expect a respectful reply you must be delusional. Me and the other guy disagreed but not once have I disrespected him. Because it was 2 different opinions. But you come here telling ppl to shut up and now that I put your little punk ass where you need to be all of a sudden you wanna act mature? Suck my d**k once more before you go to bed you little snot.
You lost me at shut up.
its their own damn fault
Thats a fact. HTC went from an AMAZING phone with the M8 to this useless 20mp camera and overheating SoC. misplaced hardware buttons and extremely minimal “upgrades”. It was a failure when it was announced.
Stop repeating the lie of M9 overheating… IT DOESN’T. The camera is not great, but “good enough” for most purposes. I agree about the hardware button placement, it’s my biggest complaint about the phone.
It doesn’t matter what phone manufacturer it is, “the camera” shouldn’t be just, “good enough”.? It should be perfect. It’s part of the price of the phone. So it should be just as “cutting edge” as the rest of the phone!
If you need a “perfect” camera, buy a camera. A smartphone packs a lot of different capabilities in a small package, and will never be as good as an actual camera which is larger and is dedicated to doing one thing.
This just makes me sad, even if it is HTC’s fault. They bring some wonderful software and hardware to the game. It’s just such a damn shame they haven’t been able to make a really competitive camera for the last 3 years.
Love HTC but i am tired of them not listening to some constructive input from their loyal fans. Just tired of preaching about their huge bezels, logo bar and lack of true HUGE BATTERIES. They should go back to the drawing board and design a device with a HUGE battery as a starting point and get rid of that logo bar and huge bezels. HTC is plenty capable of doing this and more…the goal should be a device with a screen to bezel ratio of 80+%. The images of the rumored clear/transparent device with little or no bezels gives me hope (seen on concept-phones). I must add the device doesn’t necessary have to be clear, just maintain that front look as a template…shed the huge bezel and logo bar stigma