Andy Rubin’s upcoming “Essential” smartphone specs might have leaked online

The specs of Andy Rubin’s upcoming “Essential” smartphone might have leaked online via Android benchmarking tool GFXBench. The benchmark was spotted by Russian website MobileTelefon.ru, with the moniker “Essential FIH-PM1” — the FIH part indicating that the device would be produced by Hon Hai Technology Group (Foxconn) International Holdings, as had previously been speculated.

The benchmark was apparently made in December 2016, around the same time as a Geekbench test was conducted, which was later picked up by the same MobileTelefon.ru source.

The results suggest that the device would feature a 5.5-inch, 2560 x 1312 resolution display with 80:41 aspect ratio (almost 2:1 like the LG G6), octa-core Snapdragon 835 processor @2.2 GHz with Adreno 540 GPU and 4 GB RAM. The rear camera, meanwhile, is said to come in at 12 MP (and may lack autofocus), while a 7 MP camera is expected at the front (both are said to be capable of shooting in 4K). The Essential phone would also support NFC and run Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box.

What’s more, 9to5Google suggests that the device will arrive with some sort of modular functionality thanks to a magnetic connector place on the handset and may house pressure-sensitive functionality similar to Apple’s 3D Touch. Finally, it’s suggested that the device could go on sale for around the $649 mark sometime in the middle of the year.

Before you get too excited about this, bear in mind that this is now a four-month-old benchmark and it might not even refer to Rubin’s upcoming phone. There are several notably strange aspects of the benchmark results: from the 18-inch display, to the 10 GB of internal storage, to the weird aspect ratio (though there have been a few of them recently).

Thankfully, we could only be a matter of weeks away from finding out something concrete.

What are your thoughts on the latest specs leak? Let us know in the comments.