There has been plenty of speculation that Huawei is building a Nexus handset, and the growing mass of evidence makes it difficult to deny. 

Having seen video renders for the new device, we've now got photos of what's reported to be a prototype of the next Nexus from the prolific leaker @OnLeaks. 

Detailed on Nowhereelse.fr, the photos of the front and rear of the Nexus device being built by Huawei appear to confirm some of the details we've heard previously.

The metal body is the biggest thing. Huawei has had metal designs for a number of its own flagship devices recently, so it's entirely plausible that it will do the same for the new Nexus handset.

On the rear is the fingerprint scanner that's often been rumoured - and supported by Android 6.0 Marshmallow - as well as the bump that houses the camera assembly.

It looks like a slim design, said to be 6.6mm through the body, expanding to 8.5mm for the camera.

At the moment it's not known exactly what size the display will be, but we believe it's going to be 5.7 inches. Judging by the size of the hand in the photo, it's a fairly large device. 

It's also not known what the phone will be called, but it could be a straight Nexus 6 replacement.

Of course, this could be an elaborate Photoshop job, but we're sort of hoping this is legitimate: it looks like an awesome device, perhaps Huawei's most important phone yet. 

You can keep up with all the Huawei Nexus rumours in our dedicated round up!