HTC M9 vs HTC 10: What's the difference and should I upgrade?

With the HTC 10 announced and going on sale soon, now is the perfect time to compare it to its predecessor, the HTC M9. While the M9 has always looked fantastic, it was a phone which could never quite live up to expectations; our first impressions of the 10 are very good, but before we publish our full review, here's how the two stack up.

HTC M9 vs HTC 10: Design

Both packing an all-metal aluminium unibody, you would be forgiven for thinking that the M9 and 10 look pretty much the same. But look more closely at the edges are there are clear differences. The HTC 10 has a softer and more rounded body compared to the sharp edges of the M9.

The newer handset also opts for a simpler front, doing away with the HTC logo and iconic grills for the M9's BoomSound speakers. The 10 still has BoomSound a newer, better version in fact - but less attention is drawn to the speakers and instead the phone has nothing but three capacitive buttons below the screen, the centre of which - home - doubles as a fingerprint reader.

As for dimensions and weight, the M9 had a footprint of 144.6 x 69.7mm and a thickness of 9.6mm, and the new 10 has a footprint of 145.9 x 71.9mm and a thickness of 9mm. The M9 weighed 157g and the new HTC 10 tips the scales at 161g, but you would be hard-pressed to spot any of these differences.

HTC M9 vs HTC 10: Display

The new 10 has a 5.2in screen which is slightly larger than the 5-incher on the older phone. But where 0.2in is hard to spot, the biggest change is an increase in resolution from Full HD to Quad HD. This means a jump from 1920 x 1080 to 2560 x 1440; the pixel density has gone from 440 per inch on the M9, to 564 on the new handset.

HTC has also upgraded the quality of the display panel, upping the ante from LCD3 technology in the M9 to Super LCD5 in the new phone. HTC claims the screen of the 10 uses the same technology as the reference monitors of film directors.

HTC M9 vs HTC 10: Cameras

This is the big one. Even HTC itself admits it missed the mark with the M9's camera - and arguably that of the M7's too - so the 10 already has a weight on its shoulders. The 20-megapixel rear camera of the M9 has been thrown away and replaced by a 12MP sensor with larger pixels, a wider aperture lens and optical image stabilisation.

There is also a new laser focus to help the 10's camera focus in 0.6 seconds, 4K video recording, and improved audio recording.

HTC has also improved the front camera, upping the resolution 25% from 4MP to 5MP, while also using larger pixels, a wider aperture and - a first on any smartphone's front camera - optical image stabilisation.

HTC M9 vs HTC 10: Processor, RAM and storage

There aren't too many surprises in this section; where the M9 was powered by a Snapdragon 810 processor, the new phone gets upgraded to the new Snapdragon 820, as found in the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge. RAM has increased from 3GB in the M9 to 4GB, while storage remains unchanged at 32GB. On both phones it can be increased via a MicroSD card slot.

HTC M9 vs HTC 10: Battery

Battery capacity has been increased slightly from 2,840mAh to 3,000. HTC claims the 10 is good for two full days of life between charges, but we'll be the judge of that. Our full review of the HTC 10 will be published in the coming days.