HTC 10 for $100 off for One M8 and One M9 owners who never used protection plan

Whether you’re an HTC One M8, One M9 owner, or neither, you know how important insurance is for your smartphone. After all, it’s easy to promise yourself you’ll never need a backup protection plan for your smartphone: “I’ll be careful,” you tell yourself. Of course, things happen in the blink of an eye, and that wonderful smartphone you’ve cradled every night could find itself at the bottom of a pool, on the ocean floor at the beach, or in your bathtub or toilet at some point in time. If it hits concrete, it could “smack” into a few dangerous pieces of glass. Metal gets “dinged” over time, likely due to its impact with the elements, so you can never put a price tag on protecting your hard-earned financial investment. Phones are like cars: you must keep them up if you hope to save any money — and even get some back at trade-in — in the process.

Well, HTC has been on a roll with the HTC 10, vowing to make a comeback in the phone arena. Yet, it realizes that, like Samsung, it must do all it can to sway consumers that it’s worth forking out $699 for the Taiwanese maker’s latest smartphone. After all, that’s hard to do this day in time. Most consumers within Android are looking to save as much as possible. I don’t understand the rationale behind so much desire to save so many hundreds of dollars (sure, discounts are nice and always welcome), particularly from consumers who want the best the smartphone world has to offer, but the HTC 10’s high price tag has been one turnoff for consumers. HTC is trying to do something about it, with the automatic discount code offer as of last week, along with a free pair of high-resolution audio earphones for those who order their device from HTC.com.

Now, the company is back to offer a $100 promo discount for One M8 and One M9 users who’ve never taken advantage of their free Uh-Oh Protection plan. Back when the One M8 and One M9 were announced, HTC offered a free Uh-Oh Protection Plan that allows you to have one free device replacement over the life of the device. In other words, you get a free pass if you shatter or kill your device, but only one for free. It was a nice gesture for One users, but many users keep their devices in good shape and didn’t get to use their Uh-Oh Protection plan. For these users, an HTC 10 order will allow them to save a cool $100 off the cost of the device, bringing the HTC 10 down to $599 instead of $699.

This is an act of goodwill from HTC, one that is applause-worthy. After all, there are very few manufacturers who give this $100 credit to their customers, even those who haven’t purchased a new device from the company in 2 years. Samsung, LG, and even Google have never given this type of support to their faithful customers, so this HTC 10 discount is welcome and a shining example of what manufacturers should do to show gratitude for customer purchases (of course, Samsung does give away a free $99 Gear VR headset, so there’s that.). At the same time, however, the price of the HTC 10 is still too high, and considering the company’s camera flops in the One M8 and One M9, HTC should give more than a $100 discount. Those customers have purchased devices with terrible camera quality, and giving $100 discount wouldn’t convince me to take a chance on what could be a disappointing device. I’m not one to recommend large discounts, but customers who’ve had to put up with the terrible camera quality of the HTC One M8’s 4MP “UltraPixel” camera should get the new HTC 10 for half its original price ($350 instead of $700). Interestingly enough, I believe LG users who purchase the G5 should pay nothing above $350. LG’s terrible build quality issues this year are enough to move LG to at least seek half-price orders on these defective models.

Via