HTC One M9: leaked videos confirm specs for flagship smartphone

Details of HTC's new smartphone continue to leak out ahead of its launch in Barcelona on 1 March.

Three videos promoting the new phone – expected to be called the HTC One M9 – have been leaked by the well-known tipster @Upleaks. Together, the videos reveal pretty much everything there is to know about the new device. So what can we expect when it launches just ahead of the start of Mobile World Congress?

According to the leaked videos, the M9 boast a significantly improved 20-megapixel camera at the back, as well as a higher resolution "UltraPixel" front camera to improve your low-light selfies.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Engadget suggests that the front-mounted camera will most likely be 4-megapixel. The phone will also offer Dolby surround sound from HTC's "BoomSound" speakers.

Inside, the M9 will run an "eight-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor", says tech site The Verge.

HTC's new phone is also expected to come with Sense 7, the company's latest Android operating system skin. The new system will allow users to customise their phone's theme and features a new widget that shows apps based on a user's location – for example the system could show you news before you leave home in the morning, maps during your commute and then restaurant reviews and going out guides in the evening.

The M9 is also expected to include a new built-in photo editing suite that allows users to combine images to get the best of two exposures. Sense 7 also introduces a new three-finger swipe gesture for sharing media with friends.

Android Central says that if early leaks turn out to be accurate, "the device will retain a five-inch full-HD display". The site says it doesn't know if HTC will stick with the five-inch form factor – but that's what most users want.

The launch of the One M9 is critically important for the Taiwanese firm which is trying to halt three years of falling sales. While HTC is keeping the new product under wraps, Bloomberg says there is the possibility it will also release a smartwatch at the same time. Such rumours suggest that the company is attempting to move beyond the smartphone market. Android Central suspects the smartwatch will use technology developed by athletics brand Under Armour.

The two firms announced a partnership earlier this month, with Under Armour's 'UA Record' exercise app to run on the firm's phones. The App is part social network for athletes, part fitness tracker, allowing you to time your workouts and runs.