This could be the HTC One A9's fingerprint scanner-donning front panel

Yesterday, we told you that HTC reportedly has some "new-but-not-really-new" devices in store for the end of September. It was brought up that the somewhat noteworthy HTC One A9, an upcoming mid-ranger with an interesting design, probably won't be among the announcements. We'll have to wait and see whether that's the case or not, but regardless, the One A9's front panel may have finally become public property.

French website FrAndroid published a photo of a handset that bears the HTC logo and stands out with a round appearance and the presence of what's probably a fingerprint scanner below the display. In terms of build quality, the phone seems to go for a Samsung A series-like combination of glass panels sandwiched between a metal frame, but this is only us glancing at a blurry photo, struggling to make out proper detail. So don't hoist your expectations just yet.

Specs-wise, the HTC One A9 is rumored to feature a 5-inch 1080p resolution screen and may be powered by Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 617 chipset, 2GB of RAM. The camera setup may include a 13MP rear cam, a 4MP front cam. Storage-wise, we might be looking at 16GB of memory, and the battery unit may be at a 2150mAh capacity.

The Snapdragon 617 might be the star of the show here, being an upper mid-range chipset that features an 1.5GHz octa-core Cortex-A53 setup, Cat 7 LTE speeds (300Mbps download, 100Mbps upload), and Quick Charge 3.0 technology for fast battery charging. If HTC manages to bring the One A9's tag down to an affordable level, it may woo price-conscious buyers.