We first encountered the HTC One M9 back in mid-April this year, with the company's head of marketing for the MEA region, Neeraj Seth, promising a June 1st local release date. True to his word, the One M9 has made its debut, with Vodacom being one of the first service providers to make the flagship available on contract.

The HTC One M9 is available from Vodacom on a range of packages including on a Vodacom Smart S contract for R529 per month, with colour options limited to the silver with gold dual-tone finish for now, and more variations expected in the coming weeks.

In spite of our initial "HTC plays it safe" assessment of the One M9, it proved a powerful and sleekly refined device that surpassed many of our expectations when we reviewed it in April. To date, the One M9 remains one of the best performing smartphones we've benchmarked, with its aluminium unibody design winning us over once again.

Much like the One (M8) (review) before it, the new HTC One M9 is a handsome device that any Android user would be more than happy to call their own.     

If you're still contemplating the HTC One M9, read our review here.