HTC announced the HTC One M9 at Mobile World Congress and it's hitting stores on 31 March. But there's More than One, a second device that's facing launch.

Prior to the launch of the One M9, there was talk of this second device. The rumours were never as rabid as those for the regular M9 we saw launch, but those rumours have never died, culminating in the scheduling of a launch event, confirming this device is real. 

With the vultures circling, we've been picking through the bones of the HTC One M9+ rumours, revealing what we'll see come launch day.

Welcome to the HTC One M9+

The name One M9 Plus has been tagged onto this device. It first appeared through the Twitter leak account @upleaks, which said there were various devices coming, calling out the Hima Ultra, before then confirming that the market name would be HTC One M9+.

With the HTC One M9 launched and in the wild, HTC China has scheduled an event in Beijing on 8 April 2015. Running with the words "More than One", the rumoured device gets its first official picture.

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HTC

Originally it was rumoured that this was a device launching into Asia only, but it's also been mentioned by @upleaks that it will be appearing in EMEA - although that's a large territory and that could mean anything, from availability in Russia, to full availability in western Europe.

HTC One M9+ display

The big difference from the One M9 is the display size. The regular M9 is a 5-inch handset. It makes some sense, then, to have something a little larger to appeal to those markets that like a large display, like Asia.

The HTC One M9+ is rumoured to have a 5.5-inch display, others have pinned the One M9+ to 5.2 inches, the same size has the HTC Desire Eye, including, most recently, the frequent Twitter leaker @OnLeaks.

It's also said to step up to Quad HD, with a 2560 x 1440 resolution, where the regular M9 model is 1920 x 1080 pixels. That would be a forage into new territory for HTC that doesn't currently have a higher-res device.

The Quad HD display is seemingly confirmed by a recent AnTuTu info screen, showing the resolution to be 2560 x 1440 pixels.

Duo Camera returns

The Duo Camera was launched on the HTC One M8, and it looks like the HTC One M9+ will also have it. Although images have appeared both with and without the Duo Camera, the official invite from HTC shows a small part of the second sensor in its image.

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@leaksfly

The rear camera is 20-megapixels, with the secondary sensor used to capture depth information, as it was on the M8.

The front camera is said to be the UltraPixel sensor, as found in the M9, designed to give better quality selfies in all conditions. There have been some case images appearing too, and these feature the second camera, although we know that cases are sometimes made speculatively, based on rumours rather than the final device specs.

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HTC

With the M9 having a single 20MP rear camera, it's a slightly confusing message to have the HTC One M9+ appearing with a Duo Camera. It will always raise the question of which is the better option and which set-up HTC is actually committed to.

HTC One M9+ specs, fingerprint security

HTC will be moving to MediaTek MT6795 for the HTC One M9+ rather than Qualcomm, as used in the M9. The MT6795 is a 64-bit octa-core chipset. This was rumoured by @upleaks, before appearing in an AnTuTu info screen, listing the MT6795T, 3GB RAM and 32GB storage.

This is move is likely to be because it's cheaper and that will help keep the device price competitive. Generally speaking, across device manufacturers, there has been increasing interest in using alternative hardware manufacturers - like the Samsung Galaxy S6, using home grown Exynos silicon, and rumours that LG will use its own hardware for the LG G4.

You can expect BoomSound speakers on the front, and the same build as the HTC One M9.

There's also the return of the fingerprint scanner. This was last seen on the HTC One max, placed on the rear, which didn't go down too well.

It's said that the HTC One M9+ will have a front-mounted fingerprint scanner, which appears to be rather similar to Samsung's scanner on the S5 and Note 4, although @upleaks addresses this point, saying it won't be a home button.

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Weibo

The most recent leaked pictures show this fingerprint scanner nestled between the bottom BoomSound speaker, which as its grille divided into two sections.

The dimensions for the HTC One M9+ are said to be 150.9 x 72.5 x 10.15mm.

HTC One M9+ launch date

HTC China has scheduled a launch event for the HTC One M9+ on 8 April 2015. That event is being held in Beijing, and recent device leaks have pictured a China Mobile handset, so that's likely to be the launch partner. The exact availability isn't known.

Although it's rumoured that the HTC One M9+ will be available outside of Asia, there's been no indication of when, or where this might be.

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@upleaks