HTC doesn't see a future in 'mini' smartphones (update: it might)

We hope you weren't pinning your hopes on a downsized version of HTC's One M9 smartphone, as you probably won't get it... or anything like it in the future, for that matter. HTC's Jack Tong says that the company is ditching the One mini phone range because the "industry is moving" to phones with 5-inch and larger screens. Why build a cut-down version of a handset when most of your customers want something big? The move makes sense given that the One mini doesn't really drive sales like its full-size sibling. Still, this is bad news if you like smaller smartphones -- while there are certainly alternatives on the market, it's good to have more options.

Update: HTC tells us that this was a misquote. As it explains to Phone Scoop, Tong did say that 5-inch and larger phones were the future, but he didn't say the mini line was finished. This isn't to say that you'll see a One M9 mini -- just that phones like it are still a possibility at some point.