HTC Exec Shoots Down One A9 Copycat Accusations, Says Apple Cranked Up Xerox Machine
However, many were quick to point out that it wasn’t HTC that copied Apple — it was the other way around. HTC brought out the One (retroactively named the One M7) in 2013 which featured an aluminum unibody design and those same, thin antenna breaks in the rear of the case. So it could be said that the One A9 is simply an evolution of the One M8 and the One M9 that came before it.
HTC One M7
Needless to say, HTC feels the exact same way and that it is facing criticism for essentially carrying on with a common design trend that it started, not Apple. "We're not copying. We made a unibody metal-clad phone in 2013. It's Apple that copies us in terms of the antenna design on the back," said Jack Tong, president of HTC North Asia.
"The A9 is made thinner and more lightweight than our previous metal-clad phones. This is a change and evolution, and we're not copying.”
HTC One A9
These comments likely won’t assuage those firmly in the Apple camp that feel that products from Cupertino are constantly copied by Android OEMs. However, it’s hard not to sympathize with HTC on this issue, as the company has definitely seen better days.
The HTC One A9 features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 processor, 5-inch Full HD AMOLED display, a 13MP rear camera with OIS, and a 2150mAh battery. It is priced from $399 and will ship within the coming weeks.
