HTC One A9s goes official, and no, it's not an upgrade

HTC One A9 was an unusual 'premium' mid-ranger when it was announced last year - it had a beautiful metal unibody and yet midrange hardware inside. And it had a serious asking price, which was considered too high.

With the just announced HTC One A9s we see not an upgrade, but model with a few downgraded key features, which would perhaps allow for a lower price while keeping the premium feeling.

The new HTC One A9s has the same great looking metal body with its diamond-cut buttons and curved screen Gorilla Glass. The display unit is still 5", but the matrix is now a Super LCD one with a lower 720p resolution.

The chipset has been changed, too, the One A9s ticks on Helio P10 by MediaTek which offers an octa-core A53 processor, Mali-T860MP2, and 2GB or 3GB of RAM depending on the storage option (16 or 32 GB).

The One A9s keeps the main camera at 13MP, but it's a new sensor with a narrower f/2.2 aperture, and it lacks optical image stabilization. The selfie snapper is another swap - instead of 4MP UltraPixel camera the One A9s relies on a regular 5MP 4:3 sensor with f/2.8 aperture and 1080p video recording.

Besides the flagship-grade shell, the One A9s gets to keep the fingerprint scanner, it's connectivity options, and even comes with a slightly bigger 2,300 mAh battery. The phone runs on Android Marshmallow with the latest HTC Sense launcher. There is no word on Nougat update just yet, but HTC likes to update its latest devices.

The One A9s will launch this October and its pricing is yet to be revealed. HTC didn't seem to hit the right spot with the One A9, so hopefully, this time, they will get it right.