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Man, does HTC employ some loose-lipped people or what?

Less than a day after Microsoft’s big Windows Phone 8 preview event, The Verge managed to score some details on HTC’s hardware plans for Windows Phone 8. If their source’s information holds true, the Taiwanese company has plans to release a top-tier, mid-range, and an entry-level WP8 device before the year is out.

Starting at the top is the “Zenith,” which reportedly sports a 4.7-inch Super LCD 2 display, HSPA+ 42Mbps support, and, 8-megapixel camera, and an unspecified Qualcomm quad-core processor. Meanwhile, the “Accord” is slated to take up the position in the middle of the pack with its 4.3-inch Super LCD 2 display, 1GB of RAM, and a Qualcomm dual-core processor — it reportedly retains the same network support and camera module as seen in its bigger brother.

Last but not least is the relatively pint-sized “Rio,” which is said to be HTC’s entry-level Windows Phone 8 device. It sports a 4-inch WVGA display, and though it’s expected to be powered by one of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4, the Rio will only have 512MB of RAM onboard — more than enough to handle existing versions of Windows Phone, but it’ll be interesting to see how the processor/RAM combo deals with WP8.

It goes without saying that you should take all of this with a (rather sizable) grain of salt, but it wouldn’t be too much of a shock if this info panned out considering the three-tiered launch of HTC’s One series seems to have done them well. Fortunately, the tentative release schedule puts launches for the Rio and Accord around October with the Zenith to follow, so it shouldn’t be too long before more leaks either confirm or bust these claims.