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The HTC One A9's $399 US price is only a limited-time offer

The HTC One A9's $399 US price is only a limited-time offer

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If you don't mind buying an Android phone that really, really looks like an iPhone, HTC's One A9 (above, center) seems like a pretty good deal in the US; you're getting reasonable specs and build quality along with Android 6.0 for $399.99. But you'll have to be quick — as it turns out, that price is only a launch offer, and the One A9 will sell for $499.99 from the end of next week.

HTC has just disclosed that its launch One A9 pricing won't last:

"The cost of the HTC One A9 is the same worldwide to all distributors and operator partners. For end consumers, HTC's sales regions are given the freedom to set prices and promotions as they see fit for local market needs. The One A9 price in the US is a very limited-time promotional offer for that region's online store, as well as select HTC-only franchise stores. The offer is a special promotional pre-sale and is expected to conclude once the One A9 is available on-shelf at major retail and distributor partners.

After the promotional pre-sale offer ends, the new price in the US at htc.com will be $499.99 beginning 12:01am on 11/7."

The comment goes some way to explaining the regional disparity in pricing. In the UK, for example, the One A9's price is set at £429.99; that translates to around $660, which is still a considerable markup from $499.99, but one more in line with what UK customers are used to paying. HTC's statement that it sells the One A9 for the same cost worldwide does not, however, explain why the UK version of the phone has 16GB of storage and 2GB of RAM compared to the US version's 32GB of storage and 3GB of RAM.

In any case, the bottom line is this: if you're in the US and want to pick up a One A9, you'd better do it by next Friday. As for whether anyone will take HTC up on the A9 after the price hike? You might want to take a look at the Nexus 6P for the same price.