The HTC 8S is set to get an upgrade to Windows Phone 8.1, but it will not receive the GDR1 update after that.
Microsoft recently detailed its latest Windows Phone 8.1 Update 1, which is supposed to start rolling out later this year. While both the HTC 8S and 8X are set to receive Windows Phone 8.1, only the latter will be getting Update 1 (GDR 1) as well. The reason behind this decision is that the HTC 8S does not meet the hardware requirements to receive this software update.
The news comes straight from HTC's support forums, which means that it's official, not just a rumor that may or may not turn out to be accurate. WMPoweruser was the first to notice the news, and was also the one to point out that the HTC One 8x is not in the same situation, as it will receive the Windows Phone 8.1 Update 1 (GDR 1).
HTC did not offer any details as to what exactly in the HTC 8S's hardware was incompatible with GDR 1, but the fact that the handset comes with only 4GB of internal storage capacity may have something to do with it. On the other hand, the newly-released Nokia Lumia 530 comes with 4GB of internal memory as well, which means that it shouldn't receive the GDR 1 update either, if storage is the issue.
As a reminder, the HTC 8S made its debut back in 2012 as a mid-range Windows Phone smartphone. The device sports a 4-inch S-LCD display with a meager resolution of 800 x 480 pixels, packs a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor clocked at 1GHz, just 512MB of RAM, and 4GB of internal storage capacity, expandable up to 32GB via microSD.
Other specs of the HTC 8S include a 5-megapixel rear camera, a 1,700 mAh battery, and Windows Phone 8 for now, with Windows Phone 8.1 en route.
As WMPoweruser further points out, Microsoft has made notable efforts to bring the latest software even to the cheapest Nokia Lumia handsets, but the HTC 8S was designed from the start as a cheap, low-end device. This always limits expectations for multiple software updates, so the latest news should not come as a big surprise. On the bright side, at least the handset will get Windows Phone 8.1, which is still a great step forward.