Photographs: Courtesy, HTC Paul Sandle in London
Taiwan's HTC Corp unveiled a new flagship smartphone on Tuesday, an upgrade to the award-winning HTC One that it hopes will claw back some of the market share lost to Samsung.
The HTC One M8 has a 5-inch display, slightly larger than its predecessor, as well as improved camera technology, a faster processor and updated software, the company said.
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HTC launches 'world's best' Android smartphone
Photographs: Courtesy, HTC
Chairwoman Cher Wang said at an event in London that the new device, which has a premium metal body, was an evolution of last year's HTC One.
The HTC One was lauded by critics, she said, and it was still winning awards, including 'Smartphone of the year' at the Mobile World Congress in February.
"The best smartphone in the world gets better in every way," she said of the new model.
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HTC launches 'world's best' Android smartphone
Photographs: Courtesy, HTC
But HTC One - the group's biggest selling model to date - was not enough to stop more than two years of sliding sales as the company battled rivals such as Apple and Samsung - the market leader in terms of sales.
Just over two years ago HTC supplied one in every 10 smartphones sold around the world.
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HTC launches 'world's best' Android smartphone
Photographs: Courtesy, HTC
In 2013 its global market share had fallen to just 2 per cent, according to Strategy Analytics analyst Neil Mawston. The drop in its share price has also been precipitous.
Its latest sales figures, for February, were 36 per cent lower than a year ago.
It is fighting back with a new line of cheaper handsets, including a mid-tier handset unveiled in Barcelona last month, as well as the HTC One M8.
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HTC launches 'world's best' Android smartphone
Photographs: Courtesy, HTC
Analysts at CCS Insight said the HTC One M8 was a "make-or-break" device for HTC.
"The company has learned lessons from the phone's well-received but underperforming predecessor," they said.
"HTC must capitalise on the phone's distinctive design and premium materials to re-establish itself in the market."
They added that the device would start selling almost immediately, beating new flagship models from Samsung and Sony to the punch.
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HTC launches 'world's best' Android smartphone
Photographs: Reuters
HTC One specifications:
Display: 5.0 inch, Full HD 1080p
CPU Speed: Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 quad-core
Memory: Internal storage - 16GB and 32GB; expandable up to 128GB
RAM: 2GB
Battery: 2600mAh with talk time of up to 20 hours on 3G
Primary camera: 4MP HTC UltraPixel camera with BSI sensor and 28mm lens
Front camera: 5MP with BSI sensor and wide angle lens
Sensors: Accelerometer, Proximity sensor, Ambient light sensor, Gyro sensor, Barometer sensor
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