Since the start of the year, there's already clamor throughout the industry that the upcoming HTC phones for 2014 would definitely change the manufacturer's recent downward trend in terms of sales and profit. 

Enter HTC One M8, and the company's popularity in the Android world has never been higher. Unfortunately, the One M8 has its flaws which interestingly are connected to its strengths - its Duo Camera. 

A 4MP UltraPixel camera is simply not enough and certainly unacceptable for a flagship in this time and age. Whether they have included a secondary depth sensor in the mix or not, the Taiwanese manufacturer should have just made it a 13 or even 16MP shooter. 

In another interesting twist, a local carrier in Japan has announced the J Butterfly, which would be a localized version of the One M8. 

The Android-powered smartphone packs both a 13MP primary (conventional) camera and a depth sensor above it. All of the One M8's specs are there, but the J Butterfly increases the bar higher as it packs a waterproof body. 

This is one of the problems of HTC why it is still unable to make a significant impact in its sales considering that it builds some of the most gorgeous handsets in the business. It always settles for smartphones with compromises. 

Since its Sensation and Desire days (back then it was still at the top of the Android food chain), HTC has been including features which could have been better, but instead it chooses another probably for cost-cutting purposes. 

The Taiwanese brand should remember that it is not Samsung. It cannot always use the hit-and-miss strategy, mainly because its Korean counterpart has lots of money to spare, and other sources of revenue aside from smartphones. 

In a step to move forward, HTC should try and follow Xiaomi's footsteps in the competition, bringing premium devices at lower costs. The Chinese brand is only four years in the business, but it has surpassed Samsung in China, certainly not a small feat.