Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC could be close to releasing its new Android smartphone, called One X9. The new 5.5-inch phablet is planned to be targeted toward middle range market.

According to The Verge, high-resolution images of the new HTC One X9 have leaked and show a design change that could be headed the future HTC smartphones. The One X9 design appears to be different from its counterpart of HTC's previous smartphones.

HTC One X9 design offers softly rounded corners and a smooth metal finish, plus a decorative strip across the top back where the camera module lives. The phone features HTC's Boomsound dual front facing speakers that were left out of the iPhone like HTC One A9 that was unveiled last month.

The new HTC One X9 design has capacitive Android buttons and metal construction. There is a SIM card slot on the right side of the smartphone, as well as the power and volume buttons. The X9 has 3.5 mm headset jack at the top and the USB connector on the bottom side.

HTC One X9 features a 5.5-inch display with a screen resolution of 1,080 pixels. The smartphone is powered by the MediaTek MT6795 SoC which has a 2.2 GHz octa-core CPU.

It also sports 2 or 3GB of RAM. It features 13-megapixel rear camera with OIS, and 5-megapixel front facing camera with UltraPixel shooter. The new smartphone is supported by a 3,000 mAh battery. There is also microSD card slot to expand the memory.

According to CNet, the leak said that the One X9 may come with two storage capacity options. The customers may choose between 16GB version with 2GB of RAM and 32GB option which is powered by 3GB of RAM.

The One X9 is reported to match Apple's iPhone 6 Plus and 6s plus in terms of design, screen size and screen resolution, according to Tech Times. The HTC One A9 that was released in November also adopted major inspiration from Apple's iPhone 6 design.

The company was trying to turn things around since the sales of the HTC One M9 that was launched few months ago has been extremely disappointing.

While the One X9 will target midrange market, rumor said that HTC will also release next generation flagship, HTC One M10, which will a compete top-tier smartphones such as Samsung Galaxy S7, iPhone 6s and LG G5.

HTC One X9 will go on sale in China market in early 2016 and could be announced at CES 2016 or Mobile World Congress. There is still no indication HTC will bring the X9 to the U.S. or Europe market.