HTC Sees Apple's iPhone Behind the Curve in Cameras & More
In Q4 2012, Samsung's leap to a 5 inch display for their Galaxy smartphone line-up seemed to attract more consumers to their phones than usual even though Apple completely redesigned their iPhone with its many refinements. The lesson here is simple: if the consumer can't readily see a smartphone's advances or refinements, then for all intents and purposes they don't exist. With the market now jammed with me-too competitors, every new high-end feature, gimmicky or not, is what consumers in key demographics will be judging their next smartphone by. While Apple has some great ideas on the drawing board such as an advanced iWallet app and service, 3D interfaces, smart cameras, advanced wireless charging, smart bezels, integrated projectors for business use and so much more, we really don't have a clue as to when or if Apple will prioritize any of them for 2013. What Apple will attract consumers with for the all-important Q4 time frame is anyone's guess at this point in time and Apple is comfortable with that tactic as it's worked for them in the past. Yet within that time void, the competition will be teasing the market with interesting upcoming features that will launch well ahead of the next version of the iPhone. Undoubtedly, some of these features will hold sway with younger consumers. The latest case in point comes by way of HTC.
A new Times of India report this morning tells us about HTC's new smartphone ad campaign for their upcoming HTC M7 smartphone. A part of their ad, as shown above, oddly points to Apple's iPhone 4S camera with 8MP as coming to market too late. The ad then continues and eventually hints that they'll have a new phone in 2013 that will offer new sound and camera experiences. We now know that their upcoming smartphone will be called the HTC M7. Elsewhere, HTC states that the new M7 smartphone will be able to offer consumers a camera that will take 3D photos and videos with playback that won't require consumers to wear cheesy 3D glasses. If they could pull that off successfully, then without a doubt it'll hold potential with a younger demographic.
If you want to see what a 3D display could look like without wearing 3D glasses, then you should check out the bottom of one of our reports covering Apple's 2009 head tracking invention.
Other HTC M7 specifications include a 13 MP camera, a 4.7 inch display with 468 pixels per inch that will offer three layers of pixels to create what they call an ultrapixel that will eliminate the requirement of interpolation. Translation: They're going to try to outshine Apple's Retina display.
That selling point may not work for long as a new report out this week described a new Retina display quality coming to the iPad mini later this year that is vastly superior to the current iPad 4's quality. When scaled down to the iPhone's display size, Apple will have an equal or better pixel count than HTC's M7. Yet as Apple pointed out back in 2012, there's more to their Retina display technology than simply jamming in more pixels for pixel sake into a display. Their 2012 video noted below spells out what separates Retina from the pack. Android fans constantly confuse pixel counts with what matters: display crispness, clarity and color accuracy.
At the end of the day, HTC's upcoming M7 won't be an iPhone killer, but it could attract a younger demographic with its new 3D camera and playback capabilities. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out over the year. In 2012, Apple introduced a cool new built-in camera feature called Panorama. Yet Apple was simply competing with apps already available for Android phones. Will HTC's 3D camera features spur on Apple to follow?
Yet for now, I rather think that Apple will be setting a much higher bar for the iPhone 6 than what HTC's M7 is currently promoting. I think that Apple heard the message loud and clear with the iPhone 5 and we're likely to see more Wow-Features debuting later this year. Then again, time will tell.
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