HTC expected to debut the big screen, fingerprint scanning One Max next week

Check out our review of the HTC One Max smartphone.

The HTC One Max’s launch event has seemingly been confirmed for October 18 in Taiwan, and October 16 in Hong Kong, while the Wall Street Journal has said we’ll also see an event on October 15 – a date we’ve heard before – which may be for its international debut. The One Max is a smartphone we’ve been expecting for several months, and after it failed to make an appearance during September’s IFA tech show, we knew it couldn’t be far away.

So, has HTC said the event is for the One Max? Well, not exactly, but the translated invitation says something along the lines of, “One finger opens up a big view,” which does hint at a fingerprint scanner that has long been expected to be its headline feature. In the Wall Street Journal’s report, anonymous sources said the scanner would be on the One Max, but didn’t state what functions it would perform. While Apple’s fingerprint scanner on the iPhone 5S unlocks the phone and can authorize iTunes purchases, we’ve seen they can be used for other tasks, such as opening apps, during a demonstration at Mobile World Congress.

The WSJ article also talks about the HTC One Max’s specification, repeating that it will have a 5.9-inch display, an UltraPixel camera, and the Android operating system will use HTC’s Blinkfeed user interface. The display’s resolution should be 1080p, and judging by the leaked images, the phone’s design will probably echo the HTC One and HTC One Mini, just on a larger scale.

Provided all the rumors are correct, the One Max will be HTC’s first true smartphone/tablet hybrid, ready to take on hardware such as the Samsung Galaxy Note 3. It’s not the only new entry into the genre we’re expecting this month either, as Nokia could be announcing the Windows Phone-powered, 6-inch Lumia 1520 during its Nokia World event on October 22.

With events in Taiwan and Hong Kong now confirmed, the invitations for a U.S. or European launch should follow soon.