The HTC U12 Life is expected to be announced later this week and, just in time, a mystery HTC phone has shown up in Geekbench’s database.

It’s IFA-eve, the day before the start of one of the biggest tech shows of the year. In 24 hours we’ll be ankle-deep in new phones, smart speakers and next-gen cup warmers.

One of the IFA tech presents we expect to see in the next few days is the HTC U12 Life. It’s a cut-down version of the HTC U12+ flagship from earlier in 2018.

Just in time for that big reveal, an “unknown” HTC phone has appeared in the Geekbench 4 database. This is a benchmarking app used to test just about any PC, phone or tablet you like.

The listing details the “HTC 2Q6E1”, which Geekbench 4 says has an octa-core Snapdragon 660 chipset and 4GB RAM. When we previously wrote about the phone, we were pretty sure it would have a Snadpragon 636 instead.

The actual Geekbench 4 result of 4897 points is dead-on what you’d expect from a Snapdragon 636, rather than the more powerful 660. It’s possibly a Geekbench database hiccup or phone reporting blip. Or perhaps the phone will have a Snapdragon 660.

This leak doesn’t tell us anything concrete about HTC’s upcoming mystery phone, but does mean any HTC fans should stay tuned for the next few days.

The HTC U12 Life is expected to have a 16-megapixel rear camera with an extra 5MP depth sensor, a 2160 x 1080 pixel 6-inch screen and 13-megapixel selfie camera.

Earlier in August we also heard the phone may not actually be made by HTC, but one of the big ODMs instead. If the HTC U12 Life does appear at IFA, we'll be on hand with the official details.