If there's one smartphone rumour that won't go away, it's the HTC M7. New information has revealed a whole run of M7 variants, eight to be precise, as well as fleshing out some of the design details and specs.

The latest rumour from HTCSource suggests that the HTC M7 specs include a quad-core Qualcomm processor (predictably), a 4.7-inch 1920 x 1080 (full HD) display and 32GB of internal storage, with no microSD card slot.

This matches the previous run of rumoured specs, which also detailed 2GB of RAM, a 13-megapixel rear camera and 2-megapixel front-facing camera.

These specs put it on line to be a replacement for the current HTC One X series of devices and is sure to include nice features like the boosted quality on the HTC One X+ front camera.

READ: HTC One X+ review

Specs, however, are rather predictable, but HTCSource goes on to talk about design. It's said that the M7 has an all-black design, as the One X+ does, along with some design features from the HTC Droid DNA.

That's typical of HTC design, which often evolves from one handset to the next and it's no surprise to see that the tipsters says it'll be of a unibody polycarbonate design, like the Droid DNA, with a "very nice looking bevelled edge".

Although it's tipped to be a 4G LTE handset, the number of codenamed variants suggest there will be all sorts of configurations of the phone to cater for different markets.

Finally we see the mention of Sense 5. We've been tracking the changes in Sense for some time, with Sense 4.x being lighter than Sense 3.x, which many felt hadn't kept up with the pace of change in Android.

Sense 5 is said to bring with it an even simpler UI and a redesign to the lock screen and HTC apps. That all sounds likely, given that the process has been under way in HTC for the last couple of Sense iterations, through Sense 3.6, 4.0, 4.1, 4+.

READ: HTC Sense 4.1 vs HTC Sense 4+: What's the difference?

The predicted HTC M7 launch date is sometime in Q1, which again follows the pattern of HTC releases, with Mobile World Congress 2013 being the most likely venue for the launch of the Taiwanese company's next global flagship handset. 

Of course, HTC watchers will be aware that the global variant of the Droid DNA or J Butterfly, rumoured to be called the HTC Deluxe, is still absent without leave. 

Well fear not, as that model is also listed on the leaked document of codenames, suggesting we may well be seeing the launch of a 5-inch handset too.

Of course, we'll bring you all the facts as we uncover them.