Motorola X may be called Nexus X

The Motorola X might now be branded as a Nexus device, dubbed the Nexus X, according to reports.

Previously, Motorola’s new phone, labelled as the Motorola X, was said to be another kind of Google-driven flagship and one which would be independent of the Nexus brand.

It was rumoured to be based on the next version of Android, the 5.0 build known as Key Lime Pie, and was pitched to sport a 5-inch 440ppi display.

These rumours also implied we would see the phone launched at Google I/O on May 15 and some claims pointed at a June or July release on the Google Play webstore.

Now, however, the tables have turned and new rumours suggest it will in fact be a Nexus phone.

EaglesRant.com reports that the ‘device referred to by the press as the Motorola X Phone may not carry Motorola’s branding after all,’ and ‘it might just be the next ‘pure’ Google phone, contrary to initial reports that it wouldn’t be a true Nexus device.’

‘Instead of being a Motorola flagship, the X Phone may be known instead as the Google Nexus X,’ claims the report.

However, it doesn’t cite sources other than ‘word from the tech grapevine’

Both this report and a similar piece from nvonews suggest a spec line-up which will include a 5-inch FullHD 1080p display, 13-megapixel camera and a ‘high performance’ quad-core processor with 2GB of RAM.

Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie is still named as the primary candidate for the operating system.

As with the earlier reports, this really all boils down to speculation, no doubt if Motorola is developing a flagship phone to go head-to-head with the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S4, HTC M7 and Sony Xperia Z it will have an impressive spec line-up.

But what’s really interesting is whether we’re about to see the first Nexus branded phone from Motorola since the manufacturer was swallowed up by Google.