MWC 2015 Rumour round up: HTC One M9, Microsoft Lumia 640 and Huawei wearable

The Mobile World Congress begins next week in Barcelona, Spain. The annual mobile technology extravaganza will see a number of announcements around consumer technology. While mobile phones and tablets are standard fare, we also expect some big announcements in the wearable segment.

As is the case before any major technology showcase, the rumour mills have gone all out about the expected launches. This has become a norm rather than an exception over the last few years. Whether the leaks are genuine leaks or motivated ones (to keep the buzz around products alive) is anyone’s guess. So let us take a look at some of the rumours that have kept technology sites busy.

HTC

HTC had impressed everyone with the HTC One M8 and the rumour mills have been suggesting the next flagship to be the HTC One M9 which is code-named Hima. Some leaked images of the rumoured HTC One M9 surfaced online, leaked by none other than the almost-retired @Evleaks, the prolific tipster known to provide accurate information about unannounced phones. The leaked image showed  two smartphones place next to each other – the standard One M9 and the larger model called Hima Ultra.

MobileGeeks.de has also released some images of the upcoming One M9 along with pricing at 749 Euros which comes to approximately Rs 53,000. According to the German site, the HTC One M9 will sport a 5-inch full HD display and it will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 SoC with an octa-core processor clocked at 2 GHz. It will come with 32GB internal storage with a microSD card slot to take the storage capacity to up to 128GB. It is also expected to have a 2,900 mAh battery and a BoomSound audio. The Hima Ultra could come with a larger display and a Quad HD resolution, although no details are out on it yet. 

The other phone that is being expected from HTC is the A55 Desire . This will come in a plastic body and will be part of the Desire series. It will come with a 5.5-inch Quad HD display (2560 x 1440 pixels) and most likely be powered by a 64-bit octa-core MediaTek MT6795 SoC clocked at 2GHz along with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. Just like the HTC One M9, the A55 Desire is expected to sport a 20MP rear camera with LED flash unit and a 13MP or 4MP UltraPixel camera in the front. It will come in two variants - single SIM for the EMEA region and a dual-SIM variant for the Asia region.

Apart from phones, there have been rumours floating around about an HTC One Smartwatch codenamed HTC Petra. According to PCAdvisor , the rumoured HTC One Wear smartwatch will be unveiled at the MWC. It will not support Android Wear and will be a companion smartwatch to the HTC One M9. It will go on sale in the first quarter of 2015.

Some of the specs revealed by @upleaks hint at a 1.8-inch (320 x 160) PMOLED flexible display. It will come in a round form factor and will be IP57 certified which means it will likely be dust and waterproof. The HTC Petra is expected to run HTC’s own real-time operating system (RTOS) that means it will work with both the iPhone (iOS 7.0+) and Android (KitKat 4.4) handsets. HTC Petra will be running on ST Micro STM32L151 chipset and it supports Bluetooth, GPS and can charge via USB or POGO pin. Its battery is expected to last for more than 3 days. We will come to know for sure on March 1 if these rumours are indeed true.

Microsoft

Microsoft released its first non-Nokia device last year in the form of the Lumia 535 which was more of an entry level phone. Recent rumours hint that one device to be launched could be a budget smartphone codenamed Lumia 640 (model number RM-1109) which has been recently approved by Brazil’s Anatel company.

It is expected to be the successor to Nokia Lumia 630 and Lumia 635. The Lumia 640 will offer HSDPA+, Wi-fi and Bluetooth 4.0 along with a dual-SIM configuration and a 2,500mAh battery. There is no information provided on whether the device will run Windows Phone 8.1 or Windows 10 or what chipset it will house.

There’s a good chance that Microsoft might want to hold off launching new flagship Lumia devices till they are ready with the mobile variant of its Windows 10 OS later this year.

There have been speculations that Microsoft will showcase two devices to preview the Windows 10 OS and these will be launched after Microsoft officially releases its latest mobile OS. Acer has confirmed that it will be showing off some Windows Phone hardware at MWC, although it will be targetted at the entry level market. There is no word on whether the Acer Windows Phone will come with Windows 10 OS.

Huawei 

Next is here. Time to focus on what matters while staying connected. #MWC2015 pic.twitter.com/pv6P5deWB3

— Huawei Mobile (@HuaweiMobile) February 16, 2015

Huawei has announced that it will have an event on 1 March at Barcelona with the press invite saying that it will reveal “surprises that will empower you to set your dreams free.” There is a huge speculation of Huawei launching a smartwatch at MWC, as its director of public relations had stated that Huawei plans to release a series of new wearables in 2015. The teaser image seen above shows a curved design towards the base which might be hinting a smartwatch. It also shows a 4G LTE symbol at the top corner, which might be an indication that this will be a smartwatch with a dedicated SIM card slot.

On the phone front, Huawei is expected to launch the Mate 7 Compact , which will be a 5.5-inch device. It houses the Huawei Kirin processor and sports the same finger-print sensor which was seen in the Mate 7.

According to GSMArena , Huawei is going to ditch the Ascend branding for its future flagship phones. Ascend Mate 7 may just be the last flagship with the Ascend branding.