HTC One M8 Max to come with next-gen power?

HTC One M8 Max to come with next-gen power?
It's the Prime, Jim, but not as we know it...

HTC likes to make a family, which is why the news that the sequel to the HTC One Max is on its way seems legitimate.

Of more interest is that it could be coming with a Snapdragon 805 processor, the next level of power and battery management, and could lead to an insanely good handset if you don't mind a bigger device.

The news comes from sometimes-right Twitter account HTCFamily.ru, which has posted a pic of the possible device and the 'news' that the powerful CPU will be in tow.

However, let's get one thing out of the way: that picture is from months ago and was posted by UK site Recombu (as the massive watermark gives away). It's just being re-used here… so any claims that it's a new pic of the One M8 Max are not to be believed.

HTC ONe M8 Prime

Nope - not real. Cred: Recombu

The Twitter feed is quoting one of the final EVleaks… leaks, and also states that the phone will have a QHD screen, oodles of RAM (around 3GB) along with the graphical power of the Snapdragon 805 processor.

What does it mean?

Let's get analytical: there's no doubt that there's an HTC One M8 Max on the roadmap for the brand, as it looks to keep up momentum in markets that are in love with phablets (a lot of Asia, for example).

However, it was clear that 2013's One Max was a device to satisfy a need - a phone with a basic Snapdragon 600 processor when others were using the more powerful 800 option - which brought multiple benefits.

As such, it could make one question the legitimacy of this year's model pushing out all the best specs for the sequel – a jump to a QHD screen and cutting edge CPU is a big change.

But if Apple is joining the phablet race in markets where the best specs often win (there's a reason HTC launched the One M8 in China with a slightly clocked-up processor, as speed wins love from consumers in that region) and Samsung is going bigger again with the Note 4, a move to actually make a decent device could reap the rewards from HTC.

The good news? We won't have to wait long until the HTC One M8 Max appears, as September is usually the time when we start seeing the new wave of phablets for the year.

Gareth Beavis
Formerly Global Editor in Chief

Gareth has been part of the consumer technology world in a career spanning three decades. He started life as a staff writer on the fledgling TechRadar, and has grown with the site (primarily as phones, tablets and wearables editor) until becoming Global Editor in Chief in 2018. Gareth has written over 4,000 articles for TechRadar, has contributed expert insight to a number of other publications, chaired panels on zeitgeist technologies, presented at the Gadget Show Live as well as representing the brand on TV and radio for multiple channels including Sky, BBC, ITV and Al-Jazeera. Passionate about fitness, he can bore anyone rigid about stress management, sleep tracking, heart rate variance as well as bemoaning something about the latest iPhone, Galaxy or OLED TV.