First leak confirms Huawei’s Nexus will bring new tricks

Say hello to Huawei's Nexus. Photo: NowhereElse

Say hello to Huawei’s Nexus. Photo: NowhereElse

Huawei’s new Nexus smartphone — one of two Google is expected to launch this fall — has leaked out for the first time in a ten-second video uploaded to YouTube.

The clip doesn’t give us a great look at the handset’s design, but it does confirm a few of its features.

Huawei’s Nexus is expected to be the larger of Google’s two new devices, with a 5.7-inch Quad HD display. It will sport a fairly simple design like previous Nexus devices, with a curved back and a display that’s free of any branding.

One new feature we haven’t seen on a Nexus device before is the fingerprint scanner that sits beneath the rear-facing camera.

Google originally planned to use a fingerprint scanner on the Nexus 6 but was forced to remove it, however, with native support for fingerprint scanners baked into Android M, it’s important that its next devices take advantage of that.

Another Android M feature it will want to take advantage of is USB Type-C, but it’s unclear from this video whether the Huawei Nexus will have a USB-C port.

We’re yet to see LG’s new Nexus yet — though we have seen some cases for it — but we’re likely to get more leaks like this one as we edge closer to the official unveiling of both devices. One thing to note, though: this could well be an early prototype device, so its look may change before it launches.