The new Nexus is one of the few big flagships left this year and given the phablet sized dimensions of 2014's Nexus 6 it could be big in more than one sense of the word.

But rumors suggest that in a break from the norm we might actually see two Nexus handsets this year, one massive-screened monster and one more finger-friendly handset.

With few other significant releases out before them we expect rumors to start pouring in at a breakneck pace and even now we've got quite a lot to go on, from a full metal body, to a fingerprint scanner and both LG and Huawei potentially involved.

Cut to the chase

• What is it? Google's upcoming Android flagship
• When is it out? Probably September or October 2015
• What will it cost? Less than rivals, but it won't be cheap

New Nexus release date

The new Nexus will almost certainly launch at around the same time as Android M, as Google is going to want to show its new OS update off on new hardware.

Android M is expected to land sometime in Q3 2015, likely September, so we could see the new Nexus as soon as then, though while it might be announced then current rumors suggest the new Nexus won't arrive in stores until Q4 2015, so you might not be able to buy it until October or November.

New Nexus design

We could be looking at not one new Nexus but two, with both LG and Huawei tipped to be working on handsets. As such we could also see two different designs.

The Huawei Nexus, sometimes referred to as the Huawei Angler, will have a metal body according to @evleaks, so it could have a premium design to match its specs.

There's no word on what LG's Nexus (sometimes referred to as the LG Bullhead) will be made out of, all we have to go on for that is a fairly crude case design tweeted by @OnLeaks, which if accurate seemingly shows a headphone jack at the top, volume or power buttons on the side, a microUSB port on the bottom and next to it an unidentified cut-out, perhaps for a speaker or maybe even a stylus.

More notably there are two big circular cut-outs on the back, which could be for a dual-lens camera, or perhaps one of them is for a fingerprint scanner, while to the left of them there's a square cut-out, likely for the camera flash.

New Nexus screen

Assuming we do get two new Nexus phones it's likely that one will be a lot bigger than the other. The Huawei handset is widely rumored to have a 5.7-inch screen, likely with a 1440 x 2560 QHD resolution, while the LG phone is thought to have a 5.2-inch screen. No resolution has yet been attached to it, but it's sure to at least be 1080p and could well be QHD.

New Nexus rivals

As a stock Android flagship with a likely quite affordable price the new Nexus could have quite a lot in common with the Moto X Style and Moto X Play, both of which are close to stock Android and undercut most flagships despite having high-end specs.

The Moto X Style in particular is an impressive phone, with a Snapdragon 808 processor, 3GB of RAM, a 5.7-inch QHD screen, a fingerprint scanner and a 21MP camera.

The OnePlus 2 also does a good job of combining top tier specs with a low price and other possible rivals could be Huawei's own Mate 8, which could be a lot like its Nexus handset, and the LG G4 if the LG Nexus takes cues from it.

Then there's the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Note 5 which could give Huawei's phablet Nexus a run for its money and of course Apple will likely steal more than a few sales with the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus.

New Nexus camera and battery

One thing we haven't really heard about yet is what camera either of the new Nexus handsets will have, though a case design for the LG handset leaked by @OnLeaks shows two circular cut-outs in addition to one for the flash, so we could see a dual-lens snapper.

There's also been some suggestions that the LG Nexus might take cues from the LG G4, in which case we could see a similar camera to that, with a 16MP sensor and optical image stabilisation.

Absolutely nothing is known about the camera on the Huawei phablet but supposedly the phone will have a 3500 mAh battery, while the LG Nexus is rumored to have a juice pack in the region of 2700 mAh.

New Nexus OS and power

Neither of the new Nexus phones are likely to be lacking for power. Current rumors suggest that the Huawei Nexus will be the most powerful of the two, apparently packing a Snapdragon 820 processor, though earlier leaks pointed to the troubled Snapdragon 810.

The LG Nexus meanwhile is pegged to include a hexa-core Snapdragon 808 processor, just like the LG G4. Having said that a benchmark for the LG-built Nexus 5 shows it topping the Samsung Galaxy S6 and every other phone currently available by a significant margin, which wouldn't likely be possible with that chip, so we could well see the Snapdragon 820 in that too.

It's not clear how much RAM either phone will have, but they'll surely pack at least 3GB and there's a good chance that at least one of them will have 4GB.

As for OS that's easy, both Nexus handsets will run Android M and they'll likely be among the first phones to do so. It will be the stock version and they'll also be first in line for updates when Android N arrives.

New Nexus other features

While Nexus phones are typically lighter on features than other flagships it's rumored that the Huawei model could have a fingerprint scanner included. That would make sense as Google has added native support for fingerprint scanners to Android M, so of course it will want to show it off.

It's less clear whether the LG handset will also have one, but that leaked case design mentioned above does have a mystery cut-out which could be for a scanner.

New Nexus cost

There aren't any price rumors yet, but with the Nexus 6 originally starting at £499 ($649, around AU$890) we wouldn't be surprised if the Huawei Nexus costs similar, given that it's rumored to be a similar size. If anything it might even cost a little more given the upgraded tech and talk of a full metal body.

The LG Nexus as the smaller device will probably be cheaper, perhaps starting at roughly £300 (around $350, AU$480) like the Nexus 5 did.

Then again Huawei handsets are generally more affordable than LG ones, but it's unlikely that the smaller handset would cost as much as the large one.

• The Nexus Player shows that there's more to Nexus than phones and tablets.

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