Rumor mills have it that the new Marlin and Sailfish Nexus phones manufactured by HTC will be priced at a minimum of $499.
There have been several renders along with some visual details and information regarding the device. However, there are very few leaks regarding the specs of the new phone.
Fact or Fiction
As all these are only rumors, it is very difficult to conclude whether it is fact or fiction. The latest tidbit about the Marline and the Sailfish offers a bright picture of the devices, placing it in the mid tier segment.
Qualcomm Latest Processor
According to the rumors, the new HTC Nexus devices will not be the same as the traditional Nexus phones. The two phones are offered in a non-conventional design. They will also be the first phones to come with the latest mobile processor from Qualcomm. Qualcomm has come up with its latest processor, the Snapdragon 821, which follows the Snapdragon 820. The new process has not yet appeared on any mobile phone and it is rumored that the new Nexus phones will ship with the new processor.
Alleged Price Details
Now, some new details regarding the pricing of the phones have also emerged. According ot the rumors, the price of both the devices will surely be higher than the price of the previous year, but it should still be reasonably priced. The Sailfish will be priced at around $449 and the Marlin will be higher at $599. The prices are for the 32 GB versions of both these devices. However, there is no news regarding the other versions of both these devices. The information source states that there will probably be a 64 GB version of the Sailfish device.
Date of Release
The new 2016 Nexus devices will probably be released within a month. There have been some specs leaks regarding the Sailfish. The Sailfish will come with the new Snapdragon 821 process and a RAM of 4 GB, according to some sources. It is still not known as to how Google or HTC will differentiate between Sailfish and Marlin. There might be differences in the build material. The battery size or the camera specs could also be different in both these devices. Another spec that could differentiate the phones will be the display resolution.
Stay Tuned
There is still a month or so for both these devices to see daylight, so there is surely going to be more leaks and speculations about the Marlin and the Sailfish in the next few weeks.
Releasing in Fall?
Android Nougat, 7.0 has been officially released and the new devices seem to be so close to release. However, there is also a possibility of the new devices coming with the new Android MR1 update, the Android 7.1. If this were true, the release would be only during the fall. Android Police editor, David Ruddoc, suggested as much on Twitter where he mentioned that the new Marlin and Sailfish would only launch with the MR1 of Android Nougat, the Android 7.1.