First, hats go off to HTC for keeping everyone in the dark for so long this year with regard to the design of the upcoming One M9. Every leaker and every blog has been stumped as to which phone we are actually going to see be unveiled this weekend at MWC. Was it the evleaks sexy version, or was it this rehash of last year’s One (M8)? If the two latest, official looking leaked presser images are to be believed, then our hearts are officially breaking for HTC.

Posted by @upleaks on Twitter, he tweeted that he would “reveal the answer” tomorrow, but then proceeded to post the pictures for all to see. In the photos, we see the same design for the One M9 which we have been fearing, set on what looks like promotional material for Qualcomm and markets in Asia.

The photos feature the dual-tone Gold and Silver colorway, as well as the Gunmetal Grey version. And, of course, only the single rear-facing camera in the squared cutout. Most importantly, the HTC “black bar” on the bottom of the frontside remains intact, very much unlike the design we saw leaked from evleaks.

If this does in fact end up being the design, HTC will likely state that since they had the sexiest smartphone last year, what would be the point to change it? All the company would need to do is touch on one of the phone’s pain points, that being the camera, and call it good. Unfortunately, we were hoping HTC would not settle for this, considering we hold them in high regard when it comes to hardware design.

However, as always, these are merely leaked images, and could still be the work of a very clever HTC employee, whose sole purpose is to throw off leakers, keeping the real design a secret until the unveiling. After last year’s insane amount of leaks, including a small child who had the phone weeks before it was official, HTC could just be having some fun at this point. Fingers crossed this is the case.

Head on down to the comments section and let us know your take on it.

Via: @upleaks [2]