HTC One A9 pre-orders start in the UK, costs even more than expected

Pre-orders for the HTC One A9 started in the US a couple of days ago, mere hours after its announcement. And now we have spotted a few UK retailers that are also offering it up for pre-order. The device is much more expensive in the UK than it is in the US, even more so than anticipated - while HTC's official recommended sales price was quoted at the launch as being £429.99 SIM-free, at the moment the cheapest option is £20 more than that.

If you'd like to get the One A9 unlocked, then you can pre-order one at Expansys for £479.99, at Carphone Warehouse for £469.99, or at Unlocked Mobiles for £449.99. While the first two retailers mention that they're selling the model with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage (which according to HTC is the only one officially headed to the UK), Unlocked Mobiles lists the one with 3GB of RAM and 32GB - though this might just be a typo. Regardless of which company you choose to do business with, right now you can only pick between the grey and silver hues for the One A9.

If long-term contracts with operators are more your thing, then Carphone Warehouse has you covered. You can bag the phone for free with plans starting at £31.99 per month. That cheapest option is from EE, giving you 1,000 UK minutes, unlimited UK texts, and 1GB of data each month. At the other end of the spectrum, a £39 per month Vodafone subscription brings you unlimited minutes, unlimited texts, as well as 6GB of data, and obviously there are many more intermediate options to choose from.

As for deliveries, Unlocked Mobiles expects to have the One A9 in stock on November 1, while Carphone Warehouse says the phone should be at your doorstep by November 6.

The HTC One A9 comes with a 5-inch 1080p AMOLED touchscreen, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 SoC, a 13 MP rear camera with dual-LED flash, a 4 MP front snapper, and a 2,150 mAh battery. It runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow.