Report: Next HTC phone looks a lot like the iPhone

An image of what’s alleged to be HTC’s next flagship phone has hit the Web, and the device in the picture looks a lot like Apple’s iPhone 5.

The computer-generated image, which was posted by UnwiredView.com, shows the back side of a tall and narrow phone. Most of the phone’s back cover is black except right at the top and bottom, where it changes to white panels.

The two-tone back cover resembles that of the iPhone 5’s back. The latest Apple smartphone, which comes in black or white, also has one large back panel that’s framed by top and bottom panels in a different shade of the phone’s color.

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If this is indeed the design of the HTC phone, which is expected to be called the M7, then it wouldn’t be surprising if Apple decided to file patent-infringement lawsuits against the Taiwanese company just as it has against Samsung.

But UnwiredView.com says this design might change since the image, which it said came from a source with early access to the device, doesn’t show HTC’s branding anywhere on the phone.

Regardless, the M7 is expected to be HTC’s next flagship phone, and it’s expected to be announced next month at the Mobile World Congress conference in Barcelona, the report says.

The device is rumored to have a 4.7-inch full-HD screen and a powerful 1.7GHz quad-core processor. The report says the phone is expected to be sold by multiple U.S. carriers, and it’ll also have one other unique feature: an infrared, or IR, port.

UnwiredView.com says having an IR port would allow the M7 to be used as a universal remote “right out of the box.�

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