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Motorola X to have 4.8-inch sapphire screen, rumours reckon

Freshly ground in the rumour mill, a new reports details specs we might see in Motorola and Google's rumoured 'X' phone.

Luke Westaway Senior editor
Luke Westaway is a senior editor at CNET and writer/ presenter of Adventures in Tech, a thrilling gadget show produced in our London office. Luke's focus is on keeping you in the loop with a mix of video, features, expert opinion and analysis.
Luke Westaway
2 min read

What manner of technological treat could Motorola be baking in its secret smart phone oven? Fresh rumours suggest the so-called 'X' phone, which the company is said to be building in conjunction with Google, will feature a 4.8-inch display, and some tough screen tech.

The mystery mobile's front will be crafted from sapphire glass, PhoneArena reports, citing an anonymous tipster.

Sapphire screens are very tough, as the video below proves -- watch agog as my esteemed CNET colleague Jessica Dolcourt mashes concrete into a sapphire-covered iPhone, failing to make a dent in the coating's shiny surface.

Sapphire screens are more expensive to make, however, which is probably why Vertu chose it for the front of its super-pricey Ti Android smart phone. Unless Motorola's found a way of making the process cheaper, that could pour water on this latest report.

Elsewhere, the new rumours point to rubber bumpers on each corner of the phone (perhaps this is a smart phone aimed at toddlers and the chronically clumsy) and a carbon-fibre back. A Qualcomm quad-core processor and 2GB of RAM are also tipped, both of which sound more than plausible.

Google is supposedly working on the 'X' phone too, suggesting this upcoming mobile will be a Nexus device, and a possible vector for the launch of Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie. If Google can make any high-end smart phone as cheap as the £239 Nexus 4, it'll certainly have my attention.

What do you think Motorola should put in its next phone? Let me know in the comments, or on our Facebook wall.