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HTC will have to go big if wants to stay out of Samsung’s shadow.
The Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer is unofficially kicking off the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona this week by holding one of the first press conferences at the event. The company is widely expected to unveil the next version of its flagship smartphone, which will almost certainly be called the One M9. The question is whether it’ll have more up its sleeve.
CNET editor Andrew Hoyle and I will be bringing you all the details, photos and commentary from the event, which kicks off at 4 p.m. Sunday local time, which is 7 a.m. PT, 10 a.m. ET, 3 p.m. UK, 11 p.m. in Singapore and 2 a.m. Monday in Sydney. To see when the event starts in your time zone, click here.
HTC has the unfortunate reputation of building high-quality smartphones that often get overshadowed by larger competitors such as Apple and Samsung. HTC may not hold on to the spotlight for long on Sunday — Samsung is scheduled to host its own event at 6:30 p.m., where it is expected to unveil the Galaxy S6 smartphone.
While HTC has seen a bit of life return to the company — it reported in January its first return of revenue growth since 2011 — the company remains a small player standing among giants. It faces increasing competition from conglomerates such as Samsung, LG, and increasingly, Chinese vendors such as Xiaomi, Lenovo and ZTE.
HTC could also unveil other products, following in the footsteps of other technology companies that have dived into the red-hot wearables market. HTC in January talked about its evolution from a smartphone company into a devices company, suggesting that it is no longer content with its core business. HTC has already introduced the Re camera , the first of its planned line-up of “connected products.”
If its high-profile past events are an indicator, HTC will launch its flagship smartphone with an updated version of its Sense user interface, and likely add in a few new software tricks.
As usual, we’ll be using ScribbleLive to bring you live text and photos, blow by blow. We’ll start the live blog about 15 minutes before HTC officially kicks off its event.
Stay tuned to CNET for full coverage of Mobile World Congress.
