A senior official of Taiwan's HTC Corp. has denied the allegations that their new smartphone, HTC One A9, is a copy of the Apple Inc.'s iPhone 6S.
According to the report of Focus Taiwan, Jack Tong, president of HTC North Asia, defended the originality of their product and even said that they were the ones who pioneered the metal-clad design for smartphones.
"We're not copying. We made a uni-body metal-clad phone in 2013. It's Apple that copies us in terms of the antenna design on the back," said Tong. "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 is referring to their previous smartphone, the HTC One M7, that was launched in 2013. The HTC One M7 enabled the ecosystem in terms of the design breakthrough in radio signals for a metal-clad phone, Tong said.
Focus Taiwan also reported that the remarks made by Tong was due to the allegation of the Tech News Site, The Verge, that the HTC One A9 was "the most blatant and highest-profile iPhone rip-off since Samsung's original Galaxy S."
The report also states that the "Taiwanese phone maker decided to copy the most popular Smartphone out there, and it prioritized the United States with its most appealing pricing and perks."
USA Today reported that whether the design for the HTC One A9 was intended to be a copy of the iPhone or not, the company hopes to have their share in the growing market of Apple.
"The big take-away is that there is some Smartphone fatigue out there," HTC America's President Jason Mackenzie said. "What we see is an opportunity. The problem is when you buy an iPhone, you really are submitting your mobile life to one company who is deciding what is good for you."
