Apart from the Galaxy Note 7 that we gave you a hands-on preview of last week, Google’s upcoming new Nexus smartphones may very well be the most hotly anticipated Android phones of the second half of 2016. According to a handful of leaks and rumors from solid sources, Google has two new Nexus smartphones set to launch in the coming months. Both phones are supposedly being built by HTC, which means we can likely expect top-notch hardware to accompany Google’s fresh new Android 7.0 Nougat software.
So far we have only seen renders of that hardware based on leaks and rumors, but Google may have just accidentally spilled the beans and revealed one of its upcoming new Nexus phones a bit ahead of schedule.
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There are so many fantastic options out there for people looking to buy a new Android phone, but the most enthusiastic Android fans out there always seem to gravitate toward Google’s Nexus lineup. The reasons are fairly straightforward: Google’s hardware partners always make great phones, Google sells them at affordable prices, and they’re always the first devices to get new Android software updates.
In 2016, Google is expected to launch two phones codenamed Marlin and Sailfish. The Marlin is expected to be the phablet successor to the Nexus 6P, featuring an all-metal design and cutting-edge specs. The Sailfish will be a smaller smartphone that features similar specs but a plastic body — and now it may have just been pictured for the first time.
We’ve seen Google accidentally reveal unreleased Nexus devices in the past in marketing videos, and now it seems like a pattern may be forming. A video promoting the Google Photos app for iOS and Android posted to Google’s official Instagram account shows a phone we’ve never seen before.
Now, it’s possible it’s just a mockup; Google shows an iOS pop-up on the screen and the phone is shaped like an iPhone SE, but it definitely has 2.5D curved glass on its face, which would be an odd thing for Google’s art department to add for no reason. But it’s also possible that this was a slip-up and you’re looking at the first official render of a new 2016 Nexus phone, which was mistakenly used ahead of schedule.
Google’s video (via The Malignant) is embedded below and the company’s new Nexus smartphones are expected to be released sometime in October.
