Latest HTC One 2 snaps put a kink in earlier leaks

Oh HTC, how you love to tease us so! Even as the Taiwanese manufacturer announces plans to target the cheaper end of the smartphone spectrum, new images surface from the higher end of the food chain.

A pair of new images purported to be of the HTC M8 have popped up on the radar, and they come bearing gifts for fans of the company's flagship smartphones.

Also referred to as the HTC One 2, the handset pictured above surfaced earlier this week on the website HK-Android.info, looking an awful lot like an improved version of the HTC One it's expected to replace.

The most notable change here is the home button is front and center in place of the HTC logo, although this image seems to indicate capacitive touch is being used instead of the on-screen software buttons suggested by earlier rumors.

Say cheese

The HTC M8 has previously been tipped to feature a 5-inch, 1080 x 1920 LCD display powered by a Snapdragon 800 processor. It is also said to have 2GB of RAM and run Android 4.4 KitKat with HTC Sense 6.0.

While those specs don't appear to have changed, the back of the handset seems to indicate big changes ahead for the camera, judging from the dual LED flash clearly on display here.

The positioning of the flash lines up with previous leaks, though one such dual flash image was deemed to have been conjured thanks to Photoshop magic by an HTC employee.

The sequel to HTC's critically acclaimed One (which won a 2013 Editor's Choice nod from TechRadar) has been rumored to arrive with an improved version of the UltraPixel camera, which theoretically produces higher quality images from a lower megapixel count.

All welcome changes, but there doesn't seem to be anything particularly groundbreaking here, so HTC might want to stay the course on those lower-priced handsets if it wants to make it through 2014 unscathed.

• No HTC One for you? Check out our review of the latest LG G2 instead!

With latest shuffle, Samsung bets on cameras setting its phones apart

After creating smartphone-camera hybrid oddities such as the Samsung Galaxy NX and Galaxy S4 Zoom, it seems the Korean electronics maker is doubling down on cameras setting its cell phones apart.

Samsung has done a little deck shuffling, placing its camera division under the guiding wing of its mobile biz.

Korea IT News reported that the Galaxy-phone maker hopes the move will create synergies between the two divisions. On one end, the mobile segment can share its know-how to create better, wirelessly connected digital cameras.

The ultimate goal is apparently for Samsung to overtake the mirrorless camera market by 2015.

But like all good partnerships, the street goes both ways, and Samsung wants the mash up to help "differentiate" its smartphones by packing them with the latest and greatest camera tech.

Adapt or die

This latest internal move is a smart one for Samsung, and builds on what the company has already done with its smartphone-camera amalgamations.

Samsung need only look at Nokia for inspiration of what installing better cameras in your handsets can do. Thanks to devices like the 41MP Lumia 1020, Windows Phone has seen a surge in usage, especially in Europe.

Only time will tell if Samsung's corporate tango will dramatically improve the quality of its smartphone cameras and creates a whole new line of connected cameras.

We doubt we'll see any groundbreaking new products come out of this closer partnership until Photokina, the mega photo gear show going down next September.

But the tech industry has always held surprises before, and we'll snap up anything we see at CES 2014 and Mobile World Congress.

• Speaking of phones and cameras, the Galaxy S5 is said to come with a new 16MP snapper.