Rumors of the HTC M7 have been surfacing in the smartphone industry for a while now. Recent reports suggest that the M7 will have the company's latest Sense 5.0 running on top of the Android platform and users can experience a "simple and clean" user interface (UI).

"According to our source, the HTC M7 is currently running on Android 4.1.2 (which may be updated before launch) and a new version of HTC Sense (most likely HTC Sense 5.0) with an updated 'simple and clean' UI. The lock screen and HTC apps have received a huge facelift and HTC has tweaked the software to make it easier to use." reported HTC Source.

HTC Source also added that the new tweaks will include on-screen volume controls, which features a shortcut that takes a user directly into the phone's volume settings page.

The external design of the HTC M7 is expected to have some features from the HTC Droid DNA with a black shell and a "very nice looking beveled edge" along the screen. HTC Source indicated that while previous rumors suggested that the HTC M7 would be constructed with a unibody aluminum shell, the source close to the company reported that the handset will be made with the same materials as the Droid DNA.

A quad-core Qualcomm APQ8064 processor is expected to power the HTC M7. The smartphone is likely to sport a 4.7-inch display with 1080 x 1920 pixels resolution and 468 pixels per inch (ppi). The handset is predicted to have 32GB of on-board storage and no option to expand the storage using a microSD card. Sprint is alleged to carry the M7 in the U.S.

The HTC M7 is expected to hit the shelves in Q1 2013. With the Consumers Electronics Show (CES) round the corner and Mobile World Congress event in February, users will expect the HTC M7 to make an appearance at one of these events.