We can't imagine it's the HTC 10 sales that are spurring it on, but perhaps the success of the Google Pixel and Pixel XL, which HTC produced on Google's behalf, means that HTC is pushing forward in 2017 with a new flagship, the predictably named HTC 11.

Out of ALL of Google’s Android partners, HTC is perhaps the most vulnerable. The company’s financials these past few years have made for depressing reading, despite some pretty serious innovation in the form of the excellent HTC VIVE.

Unlike a lot of Google’s other Android partners, HTC is a relatively small, focussed operation. It doesn’t make anything else save for the HTC VIVE and its phones, so when the phone business tanks, which it has in recent times, it spells bad news for the company’s future.

“HTC's Vive VR headset and HTC 10 smartphone sold briskly in Q2 2016,” notes Engadget, “boosting revenue 27 percent over last quarter to 18.9 billion Taiwanese dollars ($598 million). The bad news is that compared to the same period last year, sales are down 42.7 percent -- not quite as bad as the 64 percent tumble last quarter, but still a precipitous drop. The company had an operating loss of 4.2 billion Taiwanese dollars ($133 million), making five straight quarters of futility.”

HTC does know what it’s doing, though, so we do have faith in the company. The HTC 10 was a decent effort and the HTC VIVE is simply exceptional and currently unparalleled in the VR space. The Pixel phones are also very good too, so the company still has what it takes to build exceptional phones. We know that. It’s just a case of selling them.

And in 2016’s Android space, everybody is suffering – LG, Sony and Motorola are not having fun. Even Samsung is experiencing some pain this year, following the discontinuation of its Galaxy Note 7 handset. Here’s hoping 2017 is slightly brighter for all parties!

The HTC 11 has leaked in specs and rendered image form via Chinese social media, on the Weibo network, and at this point we should mention that it may well be a hoax - it's too early to tell - but still, worth reporting regardless, we thought. 

For what it's worth, the tipster says the handset will have a 5.5in QHD display, up from the HTC 10's 5.2in screen size but preserving the resolution and NOT reaching for any of that fancypants, battery-draining 4K jiggery-pokery. Processing power is said to come from a 10nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 835, which makes a lot of sense considering most of HTC's power plants have been Qualcomm units; this chip is arriving in the first half of 2017 so that might be an indication that the HTC 11 might come around the middle of the year or thereabouts.

Qualcomm Quick Charge 4.0 tech is also on-board, allegedly. For memory there is a massive 8GB of RAM tipped, alongside 256GB of storage, considering 128GB storage and 6GB of RAM is yet to become the norm across the Android space this is the one set of specs that smells slightly off, but then again it's not outside the realms of possibility either, so we'll give it a pass for now.

The imaging hardware is claimed to include a 12MP primary and an 8MP front-facing secondary, the render supplied with the specs seems to show the rear setup has a dual-lens, but this is not confirmed by the spec sheet, so we just don't know for sure at this stage, feasibly it could be a different type of sensor or module, but at the same time, dual-lenses are all the rage.

Lastly, we're supposedly looking at a 3,700mAh battery cell, which is pretty hefty to say the least.