HTC: CEO pushes One A9 as an iPhone alternative

HTC apparently bids to compete directly with Apple when it launches its rumoured One A9 phone. The company's CEO and chairwoman Cher Wang has touted the new smartphone to be a worthy alternative to the iPhone.

According to a report by Taiwanese news publication Focus Taiwan, Wang, in a letter to employees, said the new HTC smartphone would "strike a balance between beauty, performance and simplicity". She didn't reveal the name of the smartphone, but rumours suggest it will be called One A9.

The Taiwanese smartphone maker has scheduled a press event for 20 October to unveil the new smartphone. With the event to be live-streamed online, Wang encouraged HTC employees to invite contacts to watch the event.

The HTC One A9 is expected to be company's new mid-range smartphone with an iPhone 6-like aluminium build. There is speculation that the smartphone will run on the latest Android 6.0 Marshmallow out of the box, with a new proprietary Sense UI on top.

Some rumours have suggested that the One A9 would sport a 5in display with 1920 x 1080 pixels (full-HD) resolution and be powered by a 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 chipset with an octa-core CPU. The smartphone is likely to have 16GB and 32GB internal storage options, along with microSD card support for further expansion. Also, it is said to have a 13-megapixel rear camera sensor and a 2-megapixel front camera sensor.

Even though the phone's pricing remains unknown, the One A9 is expected to help the company's market share as well as its finances. The Taiwanese company recently cut 15% of its global workforce after a quarterly operating loss of NT$449m (£8.95m, $13.9m).