HTC One M9 Plus release date: Butterfly 3 launch in April

(Pichi Chuang / REUTERS)

HTC has begun sending out invites for its product event dubbed "More than One" to be held in Beijing, China in April, even as more images of the company's upcoming handset One M9 Plus continue to surface online.

Even as HTC has just released its all-new One M9 in its home market of Taiwan, rumors about the company working on a phablet dubbed the One M9 Plus have begun doing the rounds for some time now. Earlier leaked images showed the One M9 Plus with a 5.2 inch display, which is only slightly larger than the 5 inch display on the One M9, quelling rumors that the new device would feature a 5.5 inch display.

HTC's invite for the "More than One" event shows the back of a device with a brushed metal dual-tone build and a duo-camera set-up with a massive primary lens below the smaller depth-sensing lens. The smartphone shown in the invite is very similar to the earlier leaked images, which had shown the One M9 Plus featuring a physical home button in the front, along with a built-in fingerprint scanner. The device also appeared to pack a rear duo camera setup, which could be a 20-megapixel shooter similar to the one in the One M9.

Now new leaked renders comparing the One M9 Plus with the official One M9 flagship clearly show the upcoming device with a slightly larger display (at 5.2 inches) and a fingerprint reader on the front with the speaker grille split into two. Interestingly, the HTC One M9 Plus shows a camera on the back that is similar to the duo camera set that was featured in the One M8, but is absent in the One M9.

Meanwhile, other rumors suggest that the next generation HTC Butterfly model, the Butterfly 3, is set for an April release in Japan. According to speculations, the handset will be available with mobile carrier KDDI and come in three colors, red, white and blue. The HTC Butterfly 3 is rumored to have a 5.2-inch glass display with a resolution of 1440 x 2560 and offer VoLTE support. However, HTC has not confirmed any of these speculations and more rumors are expected to surface over the next few days until the company's product event in April.

 

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