HTC to offer affordable, mini version of the One

By Joshua Pramis May 1, 2013

Check out our review of the HTC One Mini smartphone.

The Internet has been buzzing with speculation about mini versions of popular phones, with the alleged iPhone Mini leading the rumor pack. It seems that smartphone manufacturers are finally starting to understand that, while so many people want to rock a top notch device, not everyone can afford the steep price tag associated with the bulk of them.

Now it looks like HTC is jumping on that bandwagon, according to a report from PhoneArena earlier today. The company appears to be in the development stages for a smaller, more affordable version of its HTC One flagship phone.

The flagship model currently retails for around $600, without a contract. We’re not sure what the pricing will be on this more affordable version, if it is, in fact, going to be a reality, but without a doubt it’s going to be low enough that it is accessible to a far wider audience.

The cheaper device, code named the HTC M4, is expected to look almost exactly like its big brother, though slightly smaller, sporting a 4.3-inch, 720p display, as opposed to the 4.7-inch, 1080p the original sports.

Rather than the quad-core processor the One is powered by, the mini version is expected to run on a dual-core chip. Total storage will max out at 16GB. (No word whether there will be versions with less storage.) Since the phone won’t need as much power as the One, the battery (which will likely not be removable) will be reduced to 1700mAh.

No concrete date has been set for the device to hit the market, but it’s expected to see the light of day sometime toward the end of Q2. We wouldn’t be surprised to see this trend of affordable minis to continue to make its way across all manufacturers in the very near future.

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