Huawei’s Nexus phone might not be as powerful as we thought

The web is awash with rumours about the processing heft of Huawei’s much-rumoured Nexus smartphone, the latest of which is a little disappointing.
That’s because, contrary to previous reports, the Huawei Nexus might not use Qualcomm’s upcoming Snapdragon 820 chip after all.
A recent tip from prolific leaker Evan Blass suggested the Huawei smartphone would use the high-end chip when it launches later this year.
However, Chinese analyst Pan Jiutang claims the Huawei will instead feature the older Snapdragon 810 chip, as spotted by Mobipicker.
That’s the controversial processor that’s been plagued with reports of overheating issues since it first appeared on the LG G Flex 2 at the start of 2015.
According to Jiutang, the Huawei Nexus can’t possibly use the Snapdragon 820 because Qualcomm isn’t shipping it until December.
Qualcomm hasn’t publicly released exact details about the Snapdragon 820 release cycle. All we know is that manufacturers will receive it at some point in the second half of this year.
Jiutang goes on to report that the Snapdragon 820 will first appear on the Xiaomi Mi 5 Plus, although there’s no definitive release date for that handset just yet.
Related: Best Android Smartphones 2015
We recently reported on leaked benchmarks that suggested LG’s Nexus, another Google-commissioned handset pegged for 2015, will use a Snapdragon 820.
As that phone is expected to launch at the same time as the Huawei Nexus, it could be the case that it will also utilise the Snapdragon 810.
We’ll have to wait until the estimated Q4 launch date to find out whether Blass or Jiutang had it right all along.
If all this future-gazing has got you hankering for a real handset, check out our smartphone group test video below: