HTC officials continue to defend the Taiwanese phonemaker's flagship, the HTC One A9, amid charges that it copied the design of the iPhone.
Because of the similarities between the flagship of the Cupertino-based Apple and HTC's newest model, The Wall Street Journal writes that the made-in-Taiwan phone would always be known as "the Android iPhone." However, the article adds that considering HTC is not a household name, being branded as such is not a bad move.
After HTC President Jack Tong insisted on Wednesday that the company did not copy the iPhone; rather, it is Apple that he accuses of copying, HTC Executive Director of Product Planning Nigel Newbyhouse stressed on Tuesday, "We cracked the all-aluminum phone. Apple borrowed our solution."
In a review of HTC One A9, Engadget concedes that HTC used "plastic antenna bands to break up an all-metal chassis before Apple did." However, it points to other design features that reek of an Apple rip-off. These are the small circular camera, round two-tone flash and curved 2.5D Gorilla Glass 3 that subtly swoops away from the edges of the screen.
Engadget points out that calling the HTC device as a "one-to-one copy" of the iPhone 6 or iPhone 6S is not fair, but it also admits the One A9 "strongly evokes another device."
But one selling point of the HTC smartphone, powered by Android and with the same fit and finish as the iPhone, is its lower selling price of $400 until Nov. 6. Even if the price tag goes up to $500 after that, it is still cheaper compared to the $650 cost of the iPhone 6S with 16GB.