iPhone 6s vs. HTC One A9: which one has value for money?

HTC One A9 is the first non-Nexus smartphone that runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow. HTC expects the One A9 to make it tough on rival Apple's iPhone 6s. Both phones look alike but there are few variations that magnify the differences between the HTC One A9 and the iPhone 6s.

So, here’s a comparison between HTC One A9 and the iPhone 6s.

Design

Both the HTC One A9 and iPhone 6s sport a plain metal build and have curved corners while antennas line the top and bottom of the handset. Even the thicknesses of both devices are more or less similar: the HTC One A9 measures 7.26 mm whereas the iPhone 6s measures at 7.1mm. What’s captivating is that both the devices have the same weight-- 143 grams.

Display

The HTC One A9 has a larger display compared to the iPhone 6s. It sports a 5-inch AMOLED display with a resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixels andis protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 4.

On the other hand, the Apple iPhone 6s has a 4.7 inch LED-backlit IPS LCD with a resolution of 750 x 1334 pixels, along with 3D Touch display and an ion-strengthened glass oleophobic coating.

Hardware

The HTC One A9 is powered by a 64-bit octa-core Snapdragon 617 chipset clocked at 1.5 GHz coupled with 2 GB or 3 GB of RAM, depending upon the storage variant. It also has an Adreno 405 GPU.

The iPhone 6s has Apple's latest A9 chipset and is powered by dual-core 1.84 Ghz processor along with a PowerVR GT7600 GPU.

Moving to variants, the One A9 is available in two storage variants: 16 GB and 32 GB coupled with 2 GB and 3 GB of RAM, respectively. The Apple iPhone 6s comes in three storage models: 16 GB, 64 GB, and 128 GB. All three come with 2 GB of RAM.

In terms of storage, both models of the HTC One A9 expand memory through microSD cards of up to 200 GB. On the other hand, the Apple iPhone 6s lacks expandable memory support.

Camera

The HTC One A9 bears a 13 megapixel rear camera and has other features like an optical image stabilization BSI sensor, dual-LED (dual tone) flash and phase detection autofocus. The shooter also supports 1080p video. On the front, the handset has a 4 megapixel UltraPixel camera. The best part is that it allows users to save images in RAW format.

The iPhone 6s flaunts a 12 megapixel camera and optical image stabilization. The snapper also supports 2160p video phase detection autofocus, HDR, face/smile detection and dual-LED (dual tone) flash. And on the front, a 5 megapixel camera is included.

Battery

The HTC One A9 comes with a 2150mAh battery rated to provide up to 16 hours of talk time over 3G. The battery can provide power for up to 12 hours of HD video playback or 60 hours of audio playback.

HTC claims it supports Quick Charge 2.0, which charges up to 75 percent faster. And other features like power-saving mode are incorporated to maximize battery life.

The iPhone 6s is backed by a 1715mAh battery, and is rated to provide14 hours of talk time, 11 hours of HD video or 50 hours of audio.

Other features

Apple introduced a set of new features like 3D Touch, which executes different commands according to different levels of force. Another feature is Live Photos, which records 1.5 seconds of content before and after you take a photo, and was last seen in the HTC Zeo.

Although the HTC One A9 is not a flagship device, it’s certainly an Android alternative for the iPhone 6s, having similar features like an all-metal body, camera, a brighter display and fingerprint scanner.

Contact the writer at feedback@ibtimes.com.au or let us know what you think below.