HTC One A9 and iPhone 6, at one glance, look very closely similar, but a senior executive of the Taiwan-based company denied that their newly unveiled smartphone was a copycat of Apple's. In fact, the Taiwan-based corporation claimed that the Cupertino-based company was the one who copied their antenna design on the back of the smartphone.
Is this issue going to reignite their feud which started five years ago?
HTC North Asia President Jack Tong stated at the press briefing during the HTC One A9 launch in Taiwan that the unibody metal-clad phone was made by HTC in 2013, according to Want China Times. It was the year when One M7 was unveiled.
Meanwhile, the 4.7-inch display, A8, Dual-core 1.4 GHz Typhoon (ARM v8-based) Apple device was launched in Sept. 2014.
"The A9 is made thinner and more lightweight than our previous metal-clad phones. This is a change and evolution, and we're not copying," Tong said.
Indeed, HTC One A9's antenna design on the rear cover and the protruding camera looks very similar to those of the iPhone 6 and 6S. Tech critics see Tong's point, considering that Apple only started adopting this outline design with iPhone 6.
However, some also believe that One A9 borrowed the other design aspect of Apple's iPhone 6 and 6S. Of course, there is no confirmation to that, but you check out the snaps below, and decide for yourself.
HTC One A9, which was unveiled on Tuesday in New York, is reportedly the first non-Nexus smartphone to be powered by Google's latest Android operating system — the 6.0 Marshmallow.
It also has a finger print scanner, and although this model is not included on the list of smartphones compatible for Android Pay, critics are speculating that the option will be available in this device soon.
Apple hasn't responded yet on this matter, as per the report of Engadget. Many are hoping that it will remain that way because who knows, it may reignite their already finished conflict.
A quick trip down to memory lane, in 2010, Apple filed a lawsuit against HTC. Reports stated that the iPad maker accused the One series manufacturer for improperly copying the iPhone.
Both tech giants ended the lawsuits, agreeing for settlement in 2012, The New York Times reported. The companies, however, did not disclose information of the deal in terms of finances but it was widely believed that HTC paid Apple as part of the agreement.
