With the HTC press conference at Mobile World Congress (MWC) ready to kick off at 14:45 UK time (15:45 CET time) on the 1st March, we haven't got long to go now until we finally see what the HTC One M9 will deliver. Although we'll bring you all of the details of the smartphone as it launches, you can watch the live stream and see the announcement as it happens. The official HTC launch page will have all of the latest details, or you can simply just watch the YouTube video that we've embedded below. To whet your appetite for the launch, the rest of this article rounds up everything that we currently know about the handset.
HTC One M9 rumours and leaks
Although we haven't had the official announcement, we're now getting a much better idea of what HTC's new flagship handsets will be like. Yes, that's handsets plural, with two phones looking to be released at the show. The HTC One M9 will replace last year's One M8, but there's also going to be a larger handset on offer, currently dubbed the HTC One M9 Plus, though the final name is anyone's guess, this should replace the aging HTC One Max. Even better, we won't have long to find out who has the top Android phone of 2015, as Samsung will unveil the Galaxy S6 just a few hours later at 5:30pm on the 1st March.
HTC One M9 official photos and colours
This is, we believe, the HTC One M9 in one of its official press shots. Or at least it's one of the three models that are being released on the 1st March. The handset pictured is in 'gunmetal black' both front and back. The latest leaks also say there will be a version with a gold front and silver back (below), and an all-gold version too. This sounds like a lot of gold to us, with little choice for those who find it a bit garish, so hopefully there will be another silver, or a silver and gunmetal mix model too. If HTC can mix-and-match the front and back colours it allows a lot of colour possibilities in the future.
HTC One M9 and M9 Plus?
Images posted by Evan Blass (formerly @evleaks, a well-known source of smartphone leaks) on Twitter look to confirm that HTC will be launching two new flagship phones at its press event on March 1st. The image shows two brand-new HTC smartphones that appear to have metal chassis (or at the very least a metal frame) and a centrally positioned front-facing camera. HTC's unique BoomSound speakers are also just about visible on the top and bottom of each handset. More importantly, the larger phone on the right has a dedicated home button, which could potentially be a fingerprint sensor as well, below the HTC logo. The smaller one, however, looks as though it will have onscreen buttons.
Old habits die hard... pic.twitter.com/eQ81vxQl2S
— Evan Blass (@evleaks) January 28, 2015
While Blass suggests this is the M9 in his tweet showing all of HTC's flagship smartphones so far, previous rumours suggested that the One M9 would look very similar to the current One M8, as leaked pictures showing the front and back of the phone point to very few design changes in the overall handset.
However, the presence of two handsets may clear up the current confusion over what the One M9's screen size will be, as we've seen conflicting reports on both a 5in and 5.2in screen. Taken together, it could mean that HTC might be launching two variations of its latest flagship handset in a similar style to Apple's iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus - although here there would be a much smaller difference in overall screen size.
Alternatively, HTC might be launching a new Desire handset with the One M9 which follows in the style of the Desire Eye, which had all the same internals as the One M8, but had a plastic chassis and was less expensive as a result. We'll know for sure come March, but for now we'll bring you all the latest news as it's confirmed.
HTC One M9 specs and benchmarks
The M9 is rumoured to have an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor (which @upleaks says will be split into a quad-core 2.0GHz chip and a quad-core 1.5GHz chip) and 3GB of RAM. This is also supported by information leaked to Phandroid from their internal sources. The M9 will also support Dolby 5.1 audio technology on its BoomSound speakers, have a 2,840mAh battery and run HTC's Sense 7 UI.
A recent leak looks to show the key specs of two new HTC handsets in one handy image. Taken from CompuBench's benchmarking site, the specs on show could be that of the HTC M9 and M9 Plus, or possibly the M9 and a cheaper far-eastern variant of the handset. It looks to confirm that the M9, previously shown using the 0PJA model number, will use the Snapdragon chipset discussed above and will have a Full HD 5in screen. It will have a 20-megapixel sensor main camera although it may only have 19 effective megapixels, and a 12-megapixel front camera.
The other phone listed brings up more questions that answers. The screen is only fractionally bigger but has a higher resolution of 2,560x1,440. However, it then uses a MediaTek MT6795 chipset, now we generally only see its chipsets in cheaper handsets but this one has 8 full-power cores, a lot of computing power but possibly at the expense of battery life.
HTC One M9 design
We might have our first look at the HTC One M9 thanks to frequent smartphone leaker nowhereelse.fr. According to the French site, its unnamed sources managed to smuggle out a few shots of an upcoming HTC smartphone that looks suspiciously like a One M8 successor. Partly because the two phones look almost identical.
As nowhereelse.fr points out, it could be a trick of the light, but it looks as though the smartphone in question is definitely made of metal. The only major difference is the rather more square hole at the top of the phone for the camera sensor. By comparison, the one of the M8 was circular. There's also a dual LED flash next door.
On the front of the phone, you'll see HTC's dual BoomSound speakers and front facing camera. Apart from that, there's not much else to say about the supposed M9 prototype other than it looks a lot like the M8, which suggests this will be an incremental improvement on HTC's flagship model rather than a whole new smartphone with a radical new design.
Clearer photos of the HTC One M9 have also emerged courtesy of Phandroid. Much like nowhereelse.fr's pictures, Phandroid's images also share a lot of similarities with the One M8. However, the shot below shows a fraction more of the side of the One M9, revealing that HTC seems to have moved the power button from the top of the phone to the side.
This will comes as welcome news for current M8 owners who find the power button tricky to reach on their current handset. The volume rocker also seems to have been moved slightly lower on the right hand side of the device, making them easier to reach for those with slightly smaller hands.
Phandroid also managed to get a clear shot of the back of the phone, which confirms nowhereelse.fr's earlier leak that the rear camera will be square rather than circular and won't feature HTC's Duo Camera system. The dual LED flash is also in the same position, along with the thin plastic strips to ensure the One M9 gets the best amount of reception for the internal antennae. If the One M9 doesn't look like this, we'll be very surprised indeed.
HTC One M9 Gold
More pictures of the HTC One M9 have leaked, showing the phone in a gold finish. The pictures, which come from previous leaker, french website www.nowhereelse.fr clearly show the handset in its more-luxurious finish. The previous HTC One M8 was also available in both silver and a dark grey, we've seen the former (above) but we've yet to confirm the dark grey colour will continue. Either way, those who like their phone to stand out in a crowd will undoubtedly be pleased with the new colour scheme. Click the link above for more pics.
HTC One M9 screen
Less certain is the phone's screen size and resolution. AndroidCentral and Phandroid seem to suggest the M9 will have the same 5in Full HD screen we saw on the One M8, but BGR reports the phone will have a 2,560x1,440 display instead. A larger resolution would certainly be in keeping with the more recent trend we've seen with the LG G3, Nexus 6 and Samsung Galaxy Note 4, all of which have 2,560x1,440 resolution displays, but those phones also have considerably larger screens starting at 5.5in or above and we've yet to see a smaller 5in screen with a resolution that high.
However, nowhereelse.fr claims the the One M9 could have a 5.2in display after snapping a front panel of an unnamed HTC smartphone. Admittedly, the site said it couldn't verify the information, but if the photo does indeed belong to the M9, it could mean we might see a resurgence of the 5.2in Full HD screen on the HTC Desire Eye. Either way, we'll be expecting either a 5in or 5.2in display.