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HTC One X9 packs a beautiful body with so-so specs

First making its debut in China late last year, the One X9 will now be sold in more markets, such as Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

Aloysius Low Senior Editor
Aloysius Low is a Senior Editor at CNET covering mobile and Asia. Based in Singapore, he loves playing Dota 2 when he can spare the time and is also the owner-minion of two adorable cats.
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Aloysius Low
2 min read

Already announced for China late last year, there's nothing exactly groundbreaking in the One X9, shown off at Mobile World Congress here in Barcelona. You may be able to forgive that, though, when you see just how good-looking this phone is.

With an all-metal body, it has a slight brushed metal feel on its rear, giving it an interesting texture. The full HD 1,920x1,080-pixel 5.5-inch display may not be the biggest on the market, but its colors are bright and vibrant.

Shop for HTC One X9 (opal silver)

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Pricing has not yet been revealed, but using the phone's China pricing as a gauge, expect the phone to retail for around $370 (which converts to around £260 or AU$515) when it hits markets in North Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the rest of Asia. There's no word on US availability.

HTC all-metal and understated One X9 (pictures)

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Key details

  • Beautiful all-metal body
  • 13-megapixel rear camera with optical image stabilization
  • HTC BoomSound for audiophiles
  • Android 6.0 Marshmallow means it's running the most updated form of Google's operating system

HTC is no longer pushing its UltraPixel camera tech, which promised better picture quality in low-light conditions -- interestingly, Samsung is now peddling a similar line in its new 12-megapixel (down from 16) Galaxy S7. The One X9 is back to packing plain old megapixels, 13 on the rear in this case. Its camera also comes with optical image stabilization and is capable of shooting 4K video.

htc-one-x9-7.jpg

HTC's BlinkFeed combines news, events and social media stuff into one easy to read feed.

 Andrew Hoyle/CNET

Tough competition

There are plenty of similar metal phones from China that offer competitive specs at a price lower than the One X9 will likely retail for. HTC needs something more if it wants to consumers to take a chance on its devices. The Taiwanese company will hope its software, with features such as BlinkFeed, and the One X9's good looks can help it to capture a bigger slice of the global market.

Check out its midrange specs below, and be sure to keep an eye on our Mobile World Congress 2016 page as we bring you all the news from the show.

Hardware specs

  • Octa-core Mediatek MT6795 Helio X1 processor
  • 5.5-inch full HD display
  • Android 6.0 Marshmallow
  • 6.06 by 2.99 by 0.31 inches (153.9 by 75.9 by 8 mm)
  • 6 ounces (170 grams)
  • 32GB onboard storage, 3GB RAM
  • 13-megapixel rear, 5-megapixel front
  • 3,000mAh battery (non-removable)
  • HTC BoomSound speakers