HTC Corp (宏達電) yesterday unveiled a cheaper version of its One M9 Plus flagship smartphone in Taiwan, hoping to regain momentum in its home market following the disappointing run of its three-month-old M9 Plus handset.
The One ME dual-SIM card smartphone is to go on sale on Saturday through HTC’s online store in Taiwan at a starting price of NT$14,900, 38 percent cheaper than the M9 Plus when it was launched in mid-May at NT$23,900.
The One ME, like the M9 Plus, is equipped with a 5.2-inch display with a resolution of 1440 x 2560 pixels, a MediaTek Inc (聯發科) Helio X10 octa-core 2.2 gigahertz mobile processor, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage, a fingerprint scanner built into the home button on the front, a 20-megapixel rear camera and support for up to 2TB of storage through a micro-SD slot.
However, several advanced features seen in the M9 Plus have been removed from the One ME.
HTC overtook Apple Inc to regain the title of Taiwan’s largest smartphone vendor by sales volume in June with a 19.3 percent share, ahead of South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co with 18.6 percent and Taiwan-based Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) with 17.9 percent, according to industry statistics.
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