HTC One M8 vs iPhone 5s: Battle of the Smartphone Titans

HTC's One smartphone launched this time last year to rave reviews and was the "most awarded smartphone" of 2013. And rightly so. It was beautifully designed and built, had a great screen and powerful performance.

That is failed to stem HTC's falling revenues will be of huge worry to the Taiwanese company. On the opposite side of the fence is Apple, whose iPhone 5s may look a lot like its previous version but which has sold in the millions none-the-less.

So, can the all-new HTC One do more than just win awards, and really begin to challenge the iPhone and Samsung's Galaxy S5 for dominance in the smartphone market?

Let's find out:

HTC One (M8) vs iPhone 5s: Screen

HTC has decided to increased the size of the One's screen by 0.3in, now measuring 5in diagonally. It retains the Full HD resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixels, but the increase in size means pixel density has dropped slightly to 440 pixels per inch (ppi) from 468ppi last year - though this shouldn't impact on quality too much, if at all.

Apple on the other hand continues to resist the lure of the bigger screen (until the launch of the iPhone 6 at least) and the iPhone 5s retains the same 4in Retina Display as the iPhone 5. Yes it looks great, but compared to the HTC One, and practically every other premium smartphone these days, it looks puny.

HTC One (M8) vs iPhone 5s: Design

HTC won many admirers for the design of the HTC One last year, with most pointing to the use of premium materials like aluminium and glass over the plastic used by Samsung in its Galaxy devices. HTC has decided not to tinker much with a winning formula, and while the overall footprint of the phone has increased, HTC has made the edges more curved to make it feel more comfortable when holding it.

Both the HTC One (M8) and the iPhone 5s are available in gold, silver and grey.

The iPhone 5s may be petite but its iconic design and flawless build quality shine through. It feels great when you hold it and while the small screen may be a problem in some respects, ut it does mean one-handed use is much easier than the 2014 model of the HTC One.

HTC One (M8) vs iPhone 5s: Hardware

The M8 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 SoC which features a quad-core processor clocked at 2.3GHz and an Adreno 330 GPU, all paired with 2GB of RAM. Early benchmarks show this should be a powerhouse of a phone. The M8 also continues to feature the front-facing BoomSound speakers, which should mean it remains as the best-sound smartphone on the market, but failed to include the fingerprint sensor features on the HTC One Max.

In terms of storage, the phone comes in 16GB or 32GB models, with that all-important microSD card slot for expansion.

Apple's iPhone 5s was (and remains) the only smarpthone on the market with a 64-bit processor meaning it is plenty powerful and once more apps are tuned to use it properly should help with battery life too. The A7 chip is joined by the M7 motion co-processor to allow it to constantly track your movements – for use with fitness apps.

Apple has also introduced its Touch ID fingerprint sensor on the iPhone 5s, to unlock the phone with your fingers as well as make purchases from the App Store.

While Apple does offer three storage options (16GB/32GB/64GB) there is no microSD card slot.

HTC One (M8) vs iPhone 5s: Software

The all-new HTC One features the latest version of Google's operating system, Android 4.4.2 (KitKat), which is great, but HTC has sought to augment this with its own updated software, Sense 6.0.

BlinkFeed, HTC's feed aggregation service remains as the default homepage, but the big new addition is gestures, including double-tap to wake, swipe left to launch widgets, swipe up to unlock and using the volume button to launch the camera.

Apple of course launched the completely redesigned iOS 7 on the iPhone 5s, and as you would expect the flatter, cleaner OS works flawlessly. While Android remains more open, iOS 7 still offers a better catalogue of quality app in the App Store.

HTC One (M8) vs iPhone 5s: Camera

HTC will be hoping its Duo Camera will be one of the big selling points for the 2014 version of the HTC One.

The new camera system features two camera sensors, one of which will be used to measure depth, to allow for easier creation of so-called 'bokeh' effects. We will have to wait and see if this is just a gimmick or a real benefit for amateur photographers. HTC has also included a dual-LED flash similar to the one on the iPhone 5s to improve low-light images.

The iPhone 5s also includes a slo-mo mode, a 15% bigger sensor and wider lens which allows in 25% more light (than the iPhone 5) all of which means Apple's camera is good – but it may now be behind the Galaxy S4 in terms of power of not the HTC One (M8).

HTC One (M8) vs iPhone 5s: Which Should I Buy?

As always this comes down to personal choice and as both are priced in the £500+ category, the choice will mostly depend on features.

If you like you phones big and powerful and don't mind HTC's Sense interface, the all-new HTC One will be the choice for you.

If you prefer Apple's sleeker design and one-hand friendly 4in screen, along with a vast array of quality apps, then the iPhone 5s is for you.