The tip-off comes from industry analyst Pan Jiutang, head of research at the Shenzhen Huaqiang Electronics Research Institute in China, and someone who previously correctly predicted a few details of the Nexus 6P in advance.

He also says the new device will be sporting the Snapdragon 820 processor, along with just about every other flagship phone in 2016. That suggests Huawei will once again be handling the higher-end Nexus model.

On a scale of possibilities we'd say this is a very plausible one: the Nexus 6P has been well-received and Google has no particular reason to switch manufacturer at this stage. The company may well have signed a multi-phone agreement with Huawei.

Since the Nexus program started in 2010 we've seen HTC, Samsung, LG and Motorola have a go at a phone or two - Google and LG have been particularly friendly, teaming up on three handsets so far.

Are Google and Huawei about to have a similarly long-lasting relationship? We'll continue to pass on the rumours around next year's Nexus phones as soon as we hear them.