Despite HTC's latest flagship device the One M9 failing to impress customers and facing criticism for lacking major improvement as well as falling behind competitive offers, the company seems to be adding to the number of One-series smartphones. The Taiwanese manufacturer has been reportedly working on a new smartphone called "HTC One E9st," which could be released in the market as the One E9. The rumors seem to be confirmed as the HTC One E9st has been spotted in Chinese regulator TENAA's database, revealing its images and key specifications.

The HTC One M9 has faced tough competition from LG G4, as well as the Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge, which have sold more than 10 million units sold so far. Last week, HTC was forced to hold a shareholder's meeting this week in an effort to assuage investors' fears, where the CEO apologized for the company's disappointing performance this year promised that a new "hero product" would be released as early as October.

However, the mid-range One E9st spotted on TENAA is far from being the "hero product" that could turn around HTC's fortunes and packs even lower specs than its recently unveiled predecessor, One E9 . According to the listing on TENAA, the One E9st, measuring 158.7x79.7x7.64mm and weighing 165 grams, features a 5.5-inch 720p HD AMOLED display (720x1280 pixels). The HTC One E9st is powered by an octa-core processor clocked at a.15GHz, paired with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal memory, which can be further expanded up to 128GB via microSD card slot.

HTC's upcoming mid-range smartphone sports a 13-megapixel camera with autofocus, LED flash and full HD (1080p) video recording capability, along with a secondary 4-UltraPixel camera for making video calls and selfies. The One E9st sports dual-front speakers and runs Google's Android 5.0.2 Lollipop. The One E9st will be available in a dual-color design with various color options like White/ Gold. There are no details about the pricing and availability of the One E9st, so stay tuned for more of the latest news and developments about HTC's upcoming device.