But aside from addressing its supply-chain issues and getting the new smartphone out the door and on shelves quickly, HTC’s approach with this year’s One doesn’t seem terribly different than before. There are marketable features everywhere — BoomSound, BlinkFeed, UltraPixel, Duo Camera, the new Dot View case. As tiresome as they may be at times, marketing names for features are a way to get people thinking about a product before they go into a store, and that’s what HTC so desperately needs. It can’t wait for someone to walk in to a store and be impressed with the One when they see it for the first time — that didn’t work last year and it likely won’t work this year. It also didn’t work for Motorola, which had a critically praised phone in the Moto X that didn’t turn into a commercial success. HTC’s big challenge this year will be getting people to see what’s different and what’s better with the new One before they get to the store.

According to Bamford, HTC’s new marketing approach will be focused on just that: educating customers on what’s different between this year’s model and last year’s One. "It’s a lot more about the product and less about quirky brand-related stuff," he notes. "We’re trying to provide evidence around what these improvements are, and we’re trying to leverage what people will find out in the world. If you ask somebody who’s an expert about the HTC One, what will they tell you?"

"If someone walks into a store and can’t afford [the One], we’ve gotta give them something that they can afford."

The company is also taking a slightly different approach with the rest of its lineup. Where last year’s focus was entirely on the One and its derivatives, this year HTC is committed to offering more options at more price points. That includes the crucial midrange market, which is highly profitable and fast-growing, but was largely ignored by HTC last year. It has already announced the Desire 816, a plastic smartphone that offers many of the flagship features of the One at a lower price. It’s available for preorder in China now, where about 35 percent of HTC’s sales are happening, but HTC says it is coming to the US and Europe later this year. "You’ll see us pay more attention to that product range, making it really the best product in that price range rather than just trying to be a cost-reduced version of our hero product," confirms Bamford.

"If someone walks into a store and can’t afford [the One], we’ve gotta give them something that they can afford," notes Croyle. "We’re going to hit a much broader spectrum of products so that wherever they are, they can walk away with an HTC product. We can deliver that great experience and great design, regardless of the price point."

That almost feels like a return to the HTC that was successful years ago, the one that had a myriad of products on the market at the same time. But back then, carriers were much more powerful than they are now, and each one demanded custom products to differentiate their lineups. Three years ago, a phone like the HTC One couldn’t exist in the United States. AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile would have all demanded unique variants, each with a different name and hardware features. Apple broke down that barrier with the iPhone, which is the same device across every carrier, and both Samsung and HTC followed suit in recent years with their flagship smartphones.