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HTC could be beavering away on a smaller sequel to the HTC One, fresh rumours concerning the Taiwanese phone-maker’s plans suggest.
News of the miniature HTC One, which is apparently codenamed ‘M4’, surfaced in a report on PhoneArena, and is tipped to feature a smaller 4.3-inch, 720p display.
The design is rumoured be very similar (the speaker grille, camera flash position and lack of chrome edging are among the few differences we can spy between the One and the phone in the above pic), but underneath its glossy exterior the tiny One is reckoned to be running on a dual-core processor.
That chip would be slower than the quad-core affair that powers its big brother, but unless you’re firing up very demanding games, you might never notice the difference. The camera meanwhile is tipped to have the same ‘Ultrapixel’ technology as the One.
While that sounds like a super-duper special feature, that camera is actually just a 4-megapixel sensor that — due to its physical dimensions — lets in more light than other phones. HTC reckons that leads to better low-light performance, though our tests suggest it doesn’t really make that much difference.
There’s no way of telling whether this latest leak is genuine or not, so — as always — take this rumour with a few pinches of salt until we hear something official from HTC.
Update: TechRadar reports that, having contacted PhoneArena, it was informed that the picture above is ‘made by an artist, based on a leaked photo’, which strongly suggests the leaked picture isn’t HTC-made. That doesn’t mean the specs aren’t real, but once again, take all unconfirmed rumours with a side-order of healthy scepticism.
HTC has long been fond of making mid-range versions of its high-flying phones, and indeed we actually preferred last year’s HTC One S to the more massive One X.
The company will doubtless have been looking on with envy at Samsung’s success in flogging the Galaxy S3 Mini, which is a pale imitation of its namesake, and — bearing a higher-than-normal price — is actually a bit of a swindle.
If the HTC One mini proves real, I’d like it to have a reasonable price tag and not compromise on build quality. Would you splash out on a miniature version of HTC’s flagship? Let me know in the comments, or on our Facebook wall.
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