HTC One Max: 5.9-Inch Device Leaked As Execs Try To Shore-Up Share Price (PICTURES)

HTC One Max Leaked As Execs Try To Shore-Up Share Price
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The third version of the increasingly misleadingly named HTC One smartphone has reportedly been leaked by a website in Taiwan.

The HTC Max looks to be the heavily-rumoured 5.9-inch version of the well-reviewed flagship smartphone.

Its launch - suspected to come at the end of August or early next month - follows that of the original One earlier this year and the One Mini in July.

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The HTC One Max would be priced, sized and specced to compete with the upcoming launch of the Sony Xperia Z Ultra and the third version of the Samsung Galaxy Note smartphone-tablet hybrids.

According to Taiwanese site ePrice, the phone will have the same plastic-aluminium mix as the One Mini, while packing a larger 3,300mAh battery, a 2.3 Ghz Snapdragon 800 and 2GB of RAM.

Obviously none of this is confirmed - but we'd be surprised if there wasn't a third One to join the One and the other One later this year.

Meanwhile the company itself is struggling to maintain its financial bearings, even as its devices win better reviews.

The company said on Monday that it would launch a new share buyback scheme worth $145m, after the company's shares closed at a new record low on Friday having already lost 30% of its value in a month.

HTC's shares are worth 90% less than they were at their all-time high in 2010. At that point the company enjoyed second place in the global smartphone sales chart after Apple. But its fortunes have since dimmed as Samsung et al have risen to the challenge set by the original iPhone, while customer interest in its own handsets has failed to match global growth.