An image of the handset mooted to become the successor to the HTC Desire HD has been photographed on a subway in Taipei.

The somewhat low-quality images have found their way online just three weeks ahead of the Mobile World Congress 2011 event in Barcelona, though the handset pictured is thought to be a prototype rather than production model.

Features distinguishing the new model from the HTC Desire HD include a curved speaker, a 3.5mm headphone jack and a chrome-trim front facing camera.

Gone from the previous model is the Desire’s trackpad, replaced with full touch screen navigation controls.

The leaked photographs, which appear accurate enough to represent genuine HTC prototypes, have heightened excitement that the Desire 2 HD might make an appearance at MWC 2011.

Meanwhile, mobile provider Orange has listed a black edition of the HTC Desire HD as ‘coming soon’ on its website. The news comes one year after HTC launched a black version of the original Desire exclusively for Orange customers.