Long standing rumors around this year’s Nexus release have claimed that Google will be launching two separate Nexus-branded smartphones this year. While one was said to be made by LG on lines of the Nexus 5 from a couple years’ back, the other one has been tipped to be built by one of the largest Android device manufacturers in the world – Huawei. While further details about either devices have thus far been hazy at best, some alleged details have reportedly just leaked on the net, detailing some of the hardware on the two upcoming devices, if online chatter is to be believed. While these leaks have given us several key pointers, the fact is, these are extremely early rumors from a singular source, so a pinch of salt might well be in order, as there’s no independent way at this stage to verify these claims first hand.
As per the rumors, the new LG-made Nexus will be more of a mid-ranger, but come with a fingerprint scanner, and will have support for wireless charging out the box. It will feature a fully metallic frame with chamfered edges, which, if true, will make a complete shift from Google’s design language for its Nexus lineup. The back-cover however, will still be made out of plastic. The smartphone will reportedly be priced around the $300 – $400 range. As for the Huawei-made Nexus, the device will be the more premium of the two rumored devices, if the rumors are anything to go by. The smartphone will allegedly feature a 5.7-inch WQHD AMOLED display and a fully metallic unibody design. The handset will come with a 21-megapixel primary camera with Sony’s IMX230 sensor, and support for wireless charging thanks a chipset by either Broadcom’s Rezence or Qualcomm’s WiPower.
Coming to the detailed hardware specs on the LG-made Nexus, the device is said to come with a 5.2-inch P-OLED 1080p display panel. The smartphone is said to be powered by Qualcomm’s next generation mid-range chipset, the Snapdragon 620 (MSM8976) SoC. The device is also said to be packing 4 GB of LPDDR3 RAM, clocked at a frequency of 1866 MHz. The new Nexus from LG is also slated to pack in a healthy 64 GB of eMMC 5.1 internal storage and a 3,180 mAh of non-removable battery. The device will also have a Marvell Avastar 88W8897 chipset which will bring Wi-Fi 802.11ac connectivity along with Bluetooth 4.2 and NFC (Near Field Communication). The smartphone is also said to come with support for wireless charging, thanks to MediaTek’s MT3188 wireless charging receiver.
Apparently, the new mid-range Nexus from LG will feature front stereo speakers, and the rear power button will come with the aforementioned fingerprint scanner integrated. The imaging duties will be taken care of by a 13-megapixel primary camera with Sony’s IMX278 RGBW sensor. The camera will come with a 6-element f/1.8 aperture lens, OIS, laser autofocus and a dual-tone LED flash. The secondary camera on the front meanwhile, will be of a more humble 4-megapixel variety, and will come with an OV4682 RGB-IR sensor and Iris Detection, which will presumably be helpful for clicking better selfies. The device will also come with USB Type-C connectivity with support for Quick Charge 2.0, if the rumors are to be believed. While we’ve no further info as of now on either of the devices, be rest assured there will be more to chew on as we get closer to the announcement of the twin next-gen Nexus devices from Google, which of course, are expected to be the first devices to run Android M.