HTC has only just launched the all-new One M9, but what is attracting more attention is leaked information and images of the Taiwanese company's next handset, dubbed the One E9, ahead of any official announcement.

Even before HTC had announced the One M9 earlier this month, there had been rumors suggesting that the company was developing two devices. Apart from the One M9, the company was rumored to be working on a bigger 5.5-inch device, purported to be the One E9, to take on the iPhone 6 Plus and Galaxy Note 4.

Earlier this month, specs and images leaked from China's telecommunications equipment certification center, TENAA showed the rumored One E9 to be a slimmer, larger and more powerful smartphone than HTC's flagship, H9. According to the listing on TENAA, the One E9 is fairly thin at 7.54mm, but has a phablet-sized 5.5-inch panel with a Quad HD 2,560x1,440 resolution, similar to the LG G3, Galaxy S6, Note 4, and Nexus 6.

The images showed the design of the One E9 to be similar to the company's recent Desire smartphones: Desire Eye and Desire 826. The back panel of the device appeared to be made of plastic and the handset had a two-tone color scheme with gold accents. Now, new live pictures of the One E9 confirm its design and form factor seen in the earlier images, but show the handset with a glossy polycarbonate back instead of matte finish. The new live pictures of the One E9 also show a large circular camera on the back panel and two front-facing BoomSound stereo speakers located on the top and bottom bezels.

The One E9 is rumored to be powered by a 64-bit 8-core MediaTek processor along with 3GB of RAM, as against the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor offered in the HTC One M9. The earlier leaked specs and images reveal that the One E9 has 32GB memory with MicroSD support, a 20-megapixel rear camera and the same popular dual Boomsound front facing speakers. But the One E9 appears to have a smaller battery of 2,800mAh as compared to the One M9.

The latest rumors now suggest that HTC will launch two new One E9 models: the One E9 and One E9 Plus with different model numbers A53 and A55. The One E9 will sport a full HD 1920 x 1080 resolution display, while the One E9 Plus will feature a Quad HD 2560 x 1440 resolution display.

There is no information about when HTC will launch the One E9, but the company has begun sending out invites for its product event dubbed "More than One" to be held in Beijing, China in April, where it is expected to unveil the One E9 and One E9 Plus.