Is Huawei about to go after the HTC One M8?

Chinese manufacturer Huawei has been noticabley quiet at the top end of the mobile market so far in 2014, with no big headlining launch at either CES or MWC.

That's not to say it hasn't go anything in the works, and two new leaks suggests it's got a couple of smartphones up its high-end sleeve.

First up is news of the Huawei Ascend P7, a handset which had been rumoured for CES and then MWC but failed to appear at either show.

New images supposedly showing the device have appeared on social network Weibo, although there isn't an obvious difference between the P7 and the Ascend P6.

Previous rumours have suggested the Ascend P7 will arrive with some decent specs including a 5-inch full HD display, quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, 13MP rear camera and a beefy 8MP front snapper.

Watch out M8

The more interesting of the leaks however is a picture posted by a Huawei engineer on Weibo, apparently showing the all-metal rear of the firm's next flagship smartphone.

It's said to be in line for Huawei's Kirin 920 octa-core processor, but what's really got people talking is the second hole in the rear plate of the device.

This is unlikely to be a dual-camera setup like the one on the HTC One M8, and rather a spot for a fingerprint scanner, very similar in location to the One Max.

The picture of the metal rear also came with a note from the poster that you might want to start saving now, as it's not going to be cheap.

It's not clear when Huawei is planning to launch either of these handset, or indeed if either of them actually exist, but with the Samsung Galaxy S5, Sony Xperia Z2 and HTC One M8 already announced it's going to have to come up with something pretty special to get noticed.

• The best all-metal smartphone on the market is the One M8

Via GforGames (1, 2)