HTC’s One smartphone is the product of meticulous engineering, and seeing as though the Taiwanese company has quite a lot riding on its success, it would appear that extra provisions have been made to ensure this particular device has the “wow” factor. Like every high-end device on the market, though, it hasn’t taken too long for the knockoff makers to come up with a cheaper alternative, and although such clone devices were once very low-end, the ‘HDC One’ surfacing from China is perhaps anything but low-end.

Further to the earlier reports that AT&T would begin taking pre-orders of HTC One handset on April 4th, it has also been revealed that the device will cost $200 as opposed to $250. Moreover, the device will be available on the carrier as of April 19th, meaning it will in fact retail before Samsung’s Galaxy S4 hits US shores, and at $200, it would be 20% cheaper up-front than its main Android rival.

April is an exciting month mainly for two reasons. The first is Samsung’s Galaxy S4, which is easily the most anticipated smartphone release this year; and the second is the HTC One, which, for numerous reasons, has already been touted as the best Android handset the market has ever seen, and we agree with the notion wholeheartedly. The latter of the two titans was announced some time ago, but yield issues on some of the hardware powering the device’s marquee features have beset numerous delays upon the Taiwanese company. Now though, it looks as though folks interested in the One won’t have to wait that much longer, with reports suggesting pre-orders on AT&T could begin as early as Thursday April 4th, with the HTC One release date touted in the April bracket officially.

With a bunch of new devices from Samsung, HTC and Sony joining an already crowded smartphone market, this Spring is certainly a good time to be upgrading your handset. With so many reviews offering varied, mostly opinion-based coverage on which deserves your hard-earned cash, PhoneArena has tried to keep things objective by posting a display performance comparison of each of the industry’s most sought-after handsets. Included in the line-up is the iPhone 5, Samsung’s current and upcoming Galaxy S4 and the current Galaxy S III, Sony’s waterproof Xperia Z, the HTC One, and Nokia’s Lumia 920. Check out the comparison after the jump!