The HTC U11 Plus has become the industry's worst kept secret, as this phone has practically seen full exposure in the last week, with expectation that it will be launched on 2 November.

The most exciting new detail to emerge comes from a reliable leaker, Evan Blass, on Twitter. In a simple tweet, Blass reveals the colours of black, silver and translucent.

Say what? Translucent?

While black and silver are rather predictable - as are any other colours of the Liquid Surface rainbow - a translucent back cover gives HTC the chance to do something a little different.

We also think that HTC has already teased this feature in a recent tweet. Reading this tease with the knowledge that translucent could be an option gives it an entirely new meaning.

The interesting thing about this image from HTC is that you can see through it. We've commented on this before, because it looks like you can see various components, like an inductive charging coil for wireless charging (or something). 

In fact, you can see an HTC U11 with a translucent back right here, thanks to Shen Ye on Twitter who has converted his own phone.

The translucent back trend isn't a flight of fancy, it's actually pretty easy to do with a glass phone. We say easy, but it differs from phone to phone and creating these transparent phones seems to be a favourite pastime of YouTuber JerryRigEverything, where you can see for yourself how to do it yourself.

We're hoping that HTC is going offer this as a standard option, because being able to see the guts of your phone adds a dimension that no one else has.