Those of you who have tried unsuccessfully to cram two SIM cards into the HTC One M8 will be pleased to hear that there's a variant of the flagship handset that will actually allow you to achieve this feat without the use of a hammer.

Yes, there's a dual-SIM version of the M8 and it's due next week, although to begin with only in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

HTC officially announced this fact in a German press release spotted by Phone Arena, but the bad news is the price is considerably higher than the vanilla M8, pitched at a rather eye-watering €799 (£635). The specs are identical save for the capability to take two SIM cards, and at least initially, only one colour will be available for this model, the plain gunmetal grey.

The HTC One M8's core specs are a 2.3 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 CPU, a 5in display with a resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 pixels (441ppi), and a 4 ultrapixel main camera partnered with a second camera on the back that gets depth information and allows you to achieve fancy effects like switching the focus post-shot.

The device will doubtless be coming to other European markets, and possibly the UK, we shall have to see. At any rate, it's up against stiff competition from the likes of the Galaxy S5 and LG G3, though – and indeed the Sony Xperia Z2.