A leaked image of the upcoming Motorola flagship, the Moto X 2016, has made rounds online and the handset seems to sport a design that is far different from existing Motorola phones.

Chinese website, CnBeta, published an image of a smartphone that is claimed to be the Moto X 2016, Motorola's next flagship handset for next year. Although the photo only reveals the rear side of the prototype handset, there is much to be discovered about the upcoming Moto device.

Tech Radar notes that the leaked image of the third generation Moto X should not be considered as truth yet, as the launch of the next Motorola flagship is still far off, which gives Motorola plenty more time to experiment with the upcoming phone. 

The leak also shows a large camera lens and speakers which have now switched from the front side to the bottom part of the back portion. In between the speakers and the camera lens is the Motorola logo in a shiny emboss which rumours say could also act as the fingerprint sensor.

For the first time, Moto may make use of glass and metal material to create the enclosure of the handset. The casing also seems to be fixed and unremovable, meaning that the Moto X 2016 will probably not have a Moto Maker option, a service from Motorola that allows users to customize the look of their smartphones.

The Moto X 2016 follows a recently launched Moto X Pure Edition, which was released with a 5.7-inch 1440p Quad HD display, a turbo charging feature which gives 10 hours of battery life with a 15 minute charge, a pure Android firmware experience which allows for faster mobile OS updates and many more. The Pure Edition smartphone is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 chipset and has 3 GB of RAM.

Sources in China also claim that the next generation of the Moto X will sport a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 chipset. The Moto X 2016 is set to be released in the second half of 2016.