HTC is considering launching a plastic body variant of the HTC One M8, according to a new report.
Despite HTC’s strong focus on the metal unibody design of the original HTC One and the new 2014 HTC One M8 flagship, rumour has it the company is considering a cheaper, plastic model.
Similar to what Apple did with the iPhone 5C from the iPhone 5, the plastic HTC One M8 will retain all the same internal hardware as the flagship, but introduce a more wallet-friendly plastic body.
According to the Taiwanese report, the plastic One M8 could launch as soon as May with a price tag around the 3000 yuan mark, which equates to around £280.
Currently, the HTC One M8 in Taiwan retails for 5299 yuan SIM-free (£510), which is quite a steep jump from the purported RRP for the plastic variant.
As intrigued as we are about a plastic version of the HTC One M8, we somewhat doubt there is much truth in this rumour.
When launching the HTC One M8, executives were quick to emphasise the quality and craftsmanship of the metal design, suggesting it was far more important for a phone to look good than boast features like water proofing.
“We fundamentally believe in the [metal] design,” said Graham Wheeler, an HTC Product Manager to TrustedReviews. “It’s a beautiful phone, and I think that’s more important than waterproofing.”
“We wanted to make sure it was the most aesthetically pleasing phone ever.”
There is also the potential that this cheaper, plastic One M8 is the next entry in the HTC Butterfly series.
If it does match the specs of the HTC One M8, you should see the plastic version pack a 5-inch 1080 x 1920p full HD display powered by a quad-core 2.3GHz Snapdragon 801 processor with 2GB of RAM.
The HTC One M8 also packs a dual-sensor rear UltraPixel camera, letting you adjust the backgrounds of your images.
Read more: HTC One M8 vs Samsung Galaxy S5
Via: GforGames