The rumors on HTC getting to be the maker of the new 2016 Nexus phones get more solid as the supposed "Marlin" variant surfaces online.

According to an exclusive by Android Police, one of the two flagships from the Nexus 2016 line, dubbed "Marlin," has been spotted. However, the industry follower also says that pending confirmation from Google, the corroborative sources rate the speculations as 9/10, considering the specs sheet of the upcoming device.

Reportedly, the "Marlin" will be manufactured by HTC and will feature a 5.5-inch AMOLED display with QHD resolution. While the specs sheet lists the powerhouse for the device as a "Qualcomm quad-core processor," it may be expected that the flagship will carry the current-gen Snapdragon 820 processor, although there is also a possibility of an SD 821 version since the Nexus 2016 phones are late releases. The new chipset will reportedly be paired with 4GB of RAM and a minimum of 32GB of onboard storage. It is also expected that the storage is expandable via microSD support.

The supposed exclusive corroborates a recent sighting of the "Marlin" via a Geekbench benchmark listing. Aside from the previously rumored specs, it is listed that the new Nexus will come out with Android 7.0 Nougat right out of the box. Speculations also suggest that the new Nexus flagship will have fingerprint scanners on the back, a 12MP main camera and USB Type-C connectivity.

The HTC "Marlin" is only one of the two supposed Nexus 2016 phones to be released this year, the other one being dubbed the "Sailfish." Aside from two phone flagships, it is also said that Google will be refreshing the Nexus 7 tablet, with the 2016 edition reportedly being made by Huawei. There are also speculations that Google is thinking of rolling out its own smartphone series outside of the Nexus lineup.