(Pocket-lint) - HTC is heavily tipped to announce its next flagship smartphone in March or April, but might well have shown it to the world already.

The HTC U12 was allegedly spotted at an event held in Taiwan at the end of January and, subsequently, photographed by Sogi.com.tw.

The handset was being used to illustrate the benefits of 5G connectivity, with Speedtest running on an unspecified, so-far unreleased HTC handset and showing download speeds of over 800Mbps.

Serial leakmeister @evleaks has since claimed that the phone used was the much-rumoured HTC U12, so these could be the best shots yet of the new device.

Apparently this lightly obfuscated handset on display at a 5G industry event is none other than HTC Imagine, aka "U12," aka the company's next flagship. https://t.co/f89KjGjEyX — Evan Blass (@evleaks) February 5, 2018

The images were originally posted on Twitter by @iamaniff, who revealed that the event was held by the Taiwan 5G Industry Alliance. He revealed that it featured "HTC phones that have not been released to the public" and the Vive Pro and Vive Focus VR headsets.

In terms of the HTC U12 itself, bar the display, there are few other details to be gleaned from the photos. The front camera unit was covered by tape. But you can see a rounded display that curves at the edges.

We doubt we'll find out more about the phone during Mobile World Congress as HTC is likely to host a launch event long after it has died down. But we'll bring you all the news about the HTC U12 in the coming weeks.

Writing by Rik Henderson.