HTC is gearing up to launch another plastic version of its flagship smartphone, the One M9+.

Dubbed as the HTC One M9ew, this plastic-encased handset is designed as the affordable counterpart of the M9+ but with high-end specifications.

According to NDTV, the upcoming smartphone recently passed the certifications set by TENAA, China's regulatory board that's similar to the U.S.'s Federal Communications Commission.

Based on TENAA's listing, the One M9ew will carry almost the same technical features as the One M9+. It will have a 5.2-inch Quad HD screen display with a resolution of 1440x2560 pixels. The handset will also be equipped with a 20-megapixel rear camera with dual-tone flash and a 4-megapixel UltraPixel front camera.

The smartphone will be powered by a 2.2GHz octa-core processor and contain 3GB of RAM. It was not mentioned in the listing what type of chipset the One M9ew will carry but for the One M9+, HTC went with the MediaTek MT6795T. Like the latter, the plastic variant will also have a fingerprint sensor.

The One M9ew will have an in-built storage of 32GB which can be expanded to 128GB through a microSD card.

The upcoming device will serve as the second plastic version of the One M9+. Earlier in April, HTC debuted the all plastic One E9+ in China. But unlike the One M9ew and One M9+, the One E9+ has a bigger display with measures 5.5 inches. It's equipped with the 2.2GHz MediaTek MT6795M 64-bit octa-core chipset.

It is still not clear when the One M9ew will debut or if it will arrive in other countries other than China. Phone Arena noted that its metal counterpart was not offered in the European and U.S. market. However, other plastic variants of HTC handsets such as the One M8 and the One E8 already debuted in the U.S. through Sprint.