The yet-to-be officially announced and named HTC M8 has allegedly appeared in some hastily taken photos emerging from China.

Tech site chinese.vr-zone.com has posted a couple of pics of what it claims to be the rear casing of the new HTC flagship phone and although they don't reveal much, they do show that the next device could be slimmer and more rounded at the sides than the HTC One, its current top-of-the-range handset.

The two shots are of dubious quality, it must be said, but do show a HTC-branded rear plate that looks similar to the One's at first glance but is radically different on the sides. If genuine, it seems the HTC M8 - or HTC One 2 as it could be called (would be a hit with roadies for sure) - will be encased in aluminium, not just the rear section.

The Chinese site also cites the blue colouring of the case, but we believe that could be the protective plastic sheet that manufacturers often put on their parts to avoid fingerprints and damage before construction.

Either way, these pictures should be taken with a pinch of salt for now. We're sure this is not the last we've heard of the phone.