Nexus 6P with Snapdragon 820 seen at Geekbench

The Nexus 9 is gone. Google I/O is happening next month. Android N will be released next quarter. You know what that means, right? Yep, it's time for a new Nexus device and, since Google hasn't changed its pattern here, we're looking at another Nexus smartphone. Of course, there's the eternal guessing game of who gets to make it this year. But, it seems there's another angle to be looked at. An entry at the Geekbench site reveals a "google Nexus 6P" (with that exact capitalization) that bears a Snapdragon 820 and 4 GB of RAM.

Of course, there's already a Nexus 6P, one that was made, for the first time, by Huawei. That one, however, sported a Snapdragon 810 (yes, the controversial one) and 3 GB of RAM. This newer one brings the Nexus 6P to early 2016 flagship standards, at least as far as processor and RAM goes. Considering the rest of the Nexus 6P specs are already high end standards anyway, that's a pretty sweat deal.

It isn't unheard of for a manufacturer to make two Nexus devices in a row. LG has done that, thrice even. It also isn't new for the same manufacturer to make two Nexus devices of the same name a year apart, with only the specs differing. That was the confusing situation with the two Nexus 7's made by ASUS, one in 2012 and the other in 2013. Suffice it to say, there is already some precedent for a 2016 Nexus 6P.

There is one interesting detail in this sighting, however. The motherboard, not usually cited in benchmarks, is named as "marlin". That has long been held as one of the codenames for a Nexus device, as Google names its Nexus after fish. There is one rumor, however, that claims that this marlin will be made by HTC. The "6P" used here, however, would suggest otherwise, as it is already a name used by Huawei. It is hardly imaginable, though not impossible, that Huawei would so easily surrender its new found prestige to rival HTC. We'll just have to wait and see which speculation hits the mark.

SOURCE: Geekbench