Motorola appears to be preparing two versions of the company's next generation flagship for 2016, and according to recent purportedly leaked images of the new Moto X, the phones will be thinner and made with an all-metal design.

Image Leaks

The rumored image of a genuine Moto X 2016 device hit the web first from a Chinese mobile site called cnBeta (via TheVerge), while at the same time press images were supposedly leaked on Sunday by a Google Plus account called hellomotoHK.

Taken together, the factory-leaked photo of what looks like an actual Moto X device and the leaked press images suggest credibility. Both match up with specific design elements, with the most sensational change from the past being the Moto X's seemingly all-metal design.

Here's the cnBeta Moto X factory photo as posted by well known Android leaker Evan Blass @EVLeaks:


Now look at the purportedly leaked press images of the Moto X devices on hellomotoHK's Google+ post here. Notice the similarities?

Design Changes Confirmed?

The images suggest that the Moto X 2016 devices -- which are most likely going to be unveiled in early summer given Motorola's traditional yearly product schedule -- will indeed be made of an all metal design, with a very large camera module on the back, what looks like a physical home button with a fingerprint reader embedded, and a very slim overall profile.

In addition, there are some apparent design changes that are perhaps not as welcome, including a rear-facing speaker instead of the dual front-facing audio in the 2014 and 2015 Moto X devices, along with an absolutely huge bottom bezel, seemingly a design compromise to fit in the fingerprint scanner.

New Rumored Features & Specs

Venture Beat, however, claims that what we think are speaker holes on the back is actually a connection port for modular backplates that snap on to boost the Moto X's performance, like a battery pack, stereo speakers, or lens attachments. Interesting.

Also according to Venture Beat's unnamed source, both Moto X 2016 models will include a 5.5-inch display.

The higher-priced handset, dubbed "Vector Thin" will have a Quad HD resolution, and feature a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 running at 2GHz with either 3GB or 4GB of RAM. Minimum storage will be 34GB and the 16-megapixel camera will purportedly boast laser-assisted and phase detection autofocus, which would be a big step up in the Moto X's habitually underperforming camera department.

As for "Vertex Full," the lower-cost Moto X model slated for 2016, the specs will appropriately be less impressive: a Snapdragon 625 with either 2GB or 3GB of RAM, a 16GB storage minimum, and a 13-megapixel sensor with optical image stabilization and laser autofocus.