Reports: HTCOne M9 successor could launch at standalone event in March

HTC got burned hard last year, when a series of leaks built up unrealistic expectations about the One M9. When the device finally arrived, at MWC 2015, its design was so close to the M8 before it – and so far from the leaks, that people reacted with dismay. The Snapdragon 810 overheating kerfuffle followed soon after, and the faith of the M9 was effectively sealed.

HTC seems to have learned some lessons from the M9 fiasco – with just a month left to MWC 2016, the successor to the M9, codenamed Perfume, has yet to star in a convincing leak. In fact, it’s remarkable how little we know about Perfume at this point. Contrast this with the leak-fest around the Galaxy S7 and LG G5.

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Leak drought aside, a report out of China’s ITHome claims HTChad initially planned to release the M10/Perfume in Barcelona. Unspecified issues with the design of the device reportedly forced the company to push back the launch, with a March announcement and an April release now likely.

Citing unnamed Taiwanese sources, ITHome claims HTC’s top brass returned several prototypes to designers, which leads us to believe the design will be more innovative than the M8’s.

By itself, this Chinese report is pretty sketchy, but well-known HTCdeveloper and leaker @Llabtoofer seems to corroborate the standalone event bit:

@Llabtoofer also reveals a little info on the versions of the device:

Last year HTCreleased a slew of M9 and E9 variants targeted at East Asian markets, so it should come as no surprise that the company is planning different models for the Perfume as well. We can only hope though that HTC’s 2016 product line will be a little less confusing.

As for Perfume, @Llabtoofer emphasized it’s just a codename. For now, we expect HTCto call its next flagship the One M10.

What do you hope to see when HTC’s new flagship arrives?