Thus far, HTC smartphones have ranked high in critics' list of smartphones, with their high-quality specs and features.  This is attributed mainly to HTC's premium design that gives off a sleek and sophisticated feel. Not surprisingly, even better specs are expected of the company's upcoming devices, including the alleged HTC One M9.  

The HTC One M9 is rumored to be iPhone 6's greatest rival upon its release next year.  For one thing, there's word that it will be thinner than the iPhone 6 Plus, which is currently one of the thinnest smartphones in the market. The iPhone 6 Plus measures 7.1 millimeters, and the HTC One M9 is rumored to have the same thickness or will even be slightly thinner.  There are also whispers that the new casing of the HTC One M9 will be made of an unspecified composite material that will give the handset a new look. 

Below are the other specs and features of what is believed to be HTC's next offering: 

• 5.2-inch screen panel with QHD or 2K pixel resolution with 564 pixel density 
• Qualcomm's Snapdragon 805 SoC 
• 3 GB RAM 
• Android 5.0 Lollipop OS 
• 64 GB or 128 GB storage variants 

The HTC One M9 smartphone is also reported to come with better camera and battery, although the Taiwanese manufacturer has not given the official specifications of the handset just yet. 

Meanwhile, HTC concept designer Hasan Kaymak made a new render of the upcoming device and claimed that the smartphone will arrive next month and hinted that buyers may see the smartphone before Christmas to battle head on with Apple's iPhone 6.  Conversely, there are other speculations that deem March next year as the phone's date of release.  The latter points to March 2 to 5, which is the schedule for the Mobile World Congress tech event in Barcelona.