HTC confirms older processors in some HTC One S variants in Asia and Europe
We recently reported that some variants of the HTC One S being sold in Taiwan included the older Snapdragon S3 instead of the newer version (the S4) that graced my HTC One S from T-Mobile here in the US. Granted, the S3 processor is 1.7GHz, while the S4 is 1.5, but does that really justify the use of last-generation technology on a current flagship device?
To make matters even worse, HTC has confirmed that this is not only affecting devices sold in Taiwan, but in even more countries in the Asia-Pacific and European markets. Apparently, South Korea and Japan are not affected, but it’s still unclear which countries in Europe are getting devices with S3 processors.
HTC has been claiming that customers won’t really notice a performance difference between the two processors, and Qualcomm does seem to be having a slight supply problem with the huge demand for S4 chips. But does this really justify the use of last year’s technology in these phones? Is it really reasonable for HTC to claim that there’s not a huge difference in these chips?
The entire purpose of the HTC One Series was to unify HTC’s smartphone lineup across the globe. However, it seems that the One lineup is getting more and more fragmented, even among individual devices. I understand that it’s nearly impossible to make a single device that will work on every single carrier across the world, but I have to admit that Apple’s doing a pretty good job with that right now. (Gasp! I just gave Apple a compliment!)
But perhaps I’m making a big deal out of nothing. Still, I’m just not seeing the unity in HTC’s lineup that it was promising last year.
[The Verge]
