HTC One A9 vs iPhone 6S

HTC One A9 vs iPhone 6S

HTC is arguably the only company which can match Apple for smartphone design and with the HTC One A9 it's clearly been heavily inspired by its rival too.

But while the look might be familiar there are quite a few differences between the HTC One A9 and the iPhone 6S, not least the fact that while Apple's phone is a flagship, HTC's isn't quite, no matter how much it might look like one. But that's not the only difference, there's much, much more.

Design

If it weren't for the logos the HTC One A9 and iPhone 6S could almost be hard to tell apart at first glance. Both have fairly plain metal shells with antenna lines running along near the top and bottom, both have slightly rounded corners and both have fingerprint scanners below the screen.

They're even almost identically thin, with the iPhone 6S coming in at 7.1mm thick while the HTC One A9 is a marginally chunkier 7.26mm. Both also weigh exactly the same at 143g.

Look closer though and there are some differences. Those fingerprint scanners are different shapes for one thing. The Touch ID scanner on the iPhone 6S is circular, while the HTC One A9's scanner is more of an oblong shape.

Their cameras are positioned differently too, with the HTC One A9's rear snapper sitting centrally, while the iPhone 6S has a camera off to the side. Thickness aside they have different dimensions too, with the iPhone 6S being 138.3 x 76.1mm, while the HTC One A9 is 145.75 x 70.8mm.

So the A9 isn't quite similar enough to be considered a copy, but it's definitely reminiscent of Apple's phone. As such it also looks similarly good, but less original.

Display

With its 5-inch display the HTC One A9 isn't a massive smartphone, but it's still bigger than the 4.7-inch iPhone 6S. It's higher resolution too, at 1080 x 1920, compared to the 750 x 1334 iPhone 6S screen.

Neither phone can challenge the likes of the QHD Samsung Galaxy S6 for resolution, but they're both fairly sharp. The iPhone 6S also has an impressively colourful display, though the contrast ratio isn't the best. It remains to be seen how good the A9's is in practice, but hopefully it's brighter than the HTC One M9's screen.

One big trick Apple's phone does have, which the HTC One A9 can't match, is 3D Touch. This allows the display to respond differently to different levels of pressure and it has the potential to completely change the way we use our phones, but only once it's embraced in clever ways by a large number of apps and games.

Power and performance

The HTC One A9 has an octa-core Snapdragon 617 chip with four cores clocked at 1.5GHz and four running at 1.2GHz. That's a new 64-bit chip, but it's a more mid-range one than the Snapdragon 810 found in flagships like the HTC One M9.

As such we don't expect performance to be at quite a top tier level, though it is helped out by a generous 3GB of RAM.

The iPhone 6S sounds even less impressive with its 1.84GHz dual-core Apple A9 processor and 2GB of RAM, but it's more than capable of smoothly speeding through apps and games and can hold its own against the latest Android flagships.

You'll also get more built in storage from the iPhone 6S, as it's available with 16, 64 or 128GB, but there's no microSD card slot. The HTC One A9 on the other hand tops out at 32GB (the UK is only getting the 16GB model), but add a microSD card into the mix and you can get up to 2TB more.

Camera

The HTC One A9 sports a 13MP rear camera with optical image stabilisation and support for 1080p video. The megapixel count is similar to the iPhone 6S, which has a 12MP snapper, but it doesn't offer optical image stabilisation. Then again the 6S can shoot videos in up to 2160p, so it wins on that front.

It's too early to fully judge the actual performance of the A9's camera, but it's going to have a tough fight against the iPhone 6S, which can take really great photos.

Round the front the HTC One A9 has an UltraPixel camera, with big pixels to let more light in, so selfies should be more flattering. The iPhone 6S has a more conventional but fairly competent 5MP front-facing snapper.

Operating system

The operating system is perhaps the biggest difference between these phones, as while one runs Android the other runs iOS.

More specifically the HTC One A9 runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow overlaid with HTC Sense, while the iPhone 6S runs iOS 9.

Both of these are brand new versions of their respective operating systems, in fact Android Marshmallow is so new that hardly any other phones have it yet.

They're also both polished, impressive operating systems with apps galore. The choice really comes down to whether you're more invested in Google or Apple's ecosystem.

Features

The main feature of the HTC One A9 is its fingerprint scanner, but the iPhone 6S can match it there with a Touch ID sensor of its own.

The iPhone 6S also has a pressure-sensitive 3D Touch screen, which we've covered in the display section of this comparison. Music fans may want to take a closer look at the HTC One A9 though, as that supports high-resolution audio, so you can get the most out of your tracks.

Battery

The HTC One A9 has a 2150 mAh battery which can supposedly last for up to 16 hours of talk time, 12 hours of HD video playback, or 60 hours of audio playback. That's slightly better than the iPhone 6S, which has stats of 14 hours talk time, 11 hours of HD video, or 50 hours of audio.

In practice the iPhone 6S could struggle to last a day, so hopefully the HTC One A9 will have it beat there, but we'll reserve judgement for our full review.

The HTC One A9 does support Quick Charge 2.0 though, so you can juice it up quickly when it runs dry.

Price and availability

The HTC One A9 costs £429.99 (or US$399 with 32GB and 3GB of RAM if you're in the States) meaning it undercuts the iPhone 6S, which starts at £539/$649/$AU1,079 SIM-free. Then again you don't have to wait to buy the iPhone 6S, as it's already out.

Verdict

While not quite a flagship phone the HTC One A9 looks set to be one of the best Android alternatives to the iPhone 6S. The design is surprisingly similar and the two phones have fingerprint scanners and similar spec cameras.

The HTC One A9 even comes out on top in some ways, with a larger, sharper screen and potentially longer battery life.

But with its speedy processor and innovative 3D Touch tech the iPhone 6S is still likely to come out stronger in a lot of areas.

The HTC One A9 is unlikely to sway many would-be-iPhone-buyers to Android, but for any Android fans who long for a phone a bit more like Apple's offerings this could be just the ticket.