If HTC doesn’t want to go Samsung’s way, they’d better revise the design of their next tablet PC. These images that were reportedly grabbed from an HTC video show a striking resemblance to one of Apple’s popular desktop computers – the iMac.

Scooped up by Twitter user evleaks, the gadget shown in the images below bears an uncanny resemblance to Apple’s popular all-in-one desktop computer, the iMac.

In fact, the similarities are so big that if we were to place an Apple logo on this thing’s camera hole, the device could easily pass for an iMac if photographed from just the right angle.

One image below shows the Google email client which itself looks a lot like Apple’s Mail app. It makes the whole thing look like an Apple instructional video rotated by 90 degrees.

Coincidentally, HTC and Apple are battling over patents related to the Android operating system developed by Google.

The company’s Chairman, Cher Wang, was recently cited by a Taiwanese publication as saying that HTC doesn’t have any intentions to settle their dispute with Apple, despite Samsung's recent loss in a major legal spat with the Cupertino giant.

“Apple's iOS and Google's Android have been fighting a patent war. HTC's patent lawsuits with Apple have been a center of attention as well. Wang noted that HTC has great skills in innovation and has the confidence to face legal lawsuits with Apple. Samsung's loss, added Wang, does not mean the failure of the entire Google Android ecosystem.”

Whether or not the current patent war ends with Apple emerging as the victor again, HTC should think twice about releasing a tablet computer that looks so much like an Apple product.

Clearly the company knows it can’t copy off someone else’s design, even if that design pertains to a different product category altogether.