The highly-anticipated HTC One M9 may be released sooner rather than later as its predecessor is now enjoying a huge price cut. U.S. retailer Best Buy offers the handset for only $30, perfect for the holiday season. 

The retailer is selling the HTC One M8 under Verizon Wireless for $29.99 with a two-year contract. This is a great deal since the smartphone's original price is $199 for its 32 GB model. 

HTC One M8 is tagged as one of the best and most popular smartphones of 2014 as it offers everything that a consumer wants. The handset comes with fair specs and features and some even named the iPhone 6 and the Samsung Galaxy S5 as the handset's rivals. The handset sports a 5-inch 1080p full HD display, quad-core processor, 2 GB of RAM, Android 4.4 KitKat, and HTC signature features like front speakers, ultrapixel back camera and HTC Sense UI on top of the OS.

This price cut hints the imminent release of HTC One M9 since discounts have been a prime indicator that a new model is coming soon. More discounts on the HTC One M8 are expected to appear soon as its successor's release nears and also because of the advent of the gift-giving season. 

Meanwhile, recent reports claim that HTC's forthcoming flagship smartphone will be named "Hima." Upleaks and other publications revealed the specs and features of HTC's mobile phone, which are:

• 5-inch Full HD screen display
• Qualcomm's Snapdragon 810 processor with 2.0 GHz quad-core A57+ 1.5GHz quad-core A53 clusters.
• 20.7-megapixel Sony Exmor RS IMX220 sensor or 13-megapixel back camera with 4 Ultrapixel front shooter
• 32 GB internal storage
• 2840 mAh battery
• Android 5.0 Lollipop OS with HTC Sense 7 UI
• Aluminum body
• Front speakers

The HTC One M9 is predicted to hit the market in March at the Mobile World Congress. However, HTC has not commented on the rumors yet.