New Nexus phones could continue the 6P's metal streak

The next "budget" Google Nexus phone won't feel budget at all. According to a new report, both upcoming Nexus 2016 devices will be made entirely out of metal and glass.

This is great news for people who weren't enamored with the plastic build of theNexus 5X, especially compared to the beautifully built all-metal Nexus 6P. In fact, the Nexus 6P was Google's first all-metal phone, so if the leak proves true, the upcoming Nexuses will continue the all-metal trend.

To quickly recap, there will be two Nexus phones launching this year; one model with a 5" display and a model with a slightly larger 5.5" display. Both phones will be built by HTC, a company that has a great track record of producing high-quality phones like the all-metal HTC 10.

According to a new report from Android Police, both upcoming Google Nexus phones will share the same industrial design and materials. The two phones will look identical in every way except for size.

From the leaked image, we can see that the phone is indeed made entirely of metal, with the exception of the glass section that makes up the top third of the phone which houses the rear-mounted fingerprint reader. There's also a single antenna line at the bottom of the phone.

Choose your size

Android Police says it's 100% confident that the leaked images they received are of the Nexus "Sailfish," which is the 5.5" model. Still, this is a leak so take this report with a grain of salt.

The only design element we expect to be added is the addition of "G" logo, ditching the iconic "Nexus" branding of previous phones. Here's what the phone will look like in the wild, according to a leaked image from Twitter user usbfl.

The report continues, saying both devices will share identical specifications, aside from screen size, resolution and battery capacity. This is big news for Nexus fans, as there has always been a "budget" Nexus phone with slightly lower specs. It seems that this year, Nexus buyers will only have to decide between the screen size they want.

If the leaked benchmarks are to believed, we expect to see a Snapdragon 820 processor, 4GB of RAM, a 12MP rear camera and an 8MP front camera. Both phones will launch with Android Nougat installed, which split-screen multitasking, better notifications, and much more.

A sweet upgrade

We've been testing out the Android Nougat beta and found some neat tips and tricks to look forward to. Nougat should be arriving on Nexus phones by "late-summer," but non-Nexus handsets will likely have to wait much longer for the update.

If you've been patiently waiting to see what the new Nexus devices have to offer, you won't have to wait much longer. The devices are expected to release some time in September or October, falling in line with last year's release of the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P.