While rumor mills have continued churning speculations about Google's much-awaited smartphone dubbed as Nexus 2016 for now, more reports indicating that the actual manufacturing of the next Nexus flagship will be managed by OEMs have surfaced.

According to the recently-surfaced reports, the Nexus 2016 smartphones will be manufactured by Huawei an HTC.

There are a slew of signs that hint Google almost taking control of all the stages of the Nexus program; citing the recent announcement from Google CEO Sundar Pichai that the company prefers to be opinionated as far as the design of the upcoming phones are concerned. Judging by this announcement, it looks like though Google will team up with device makers on the Nexus project, but the control will still remain with the search engine giant, XDA Developers reported.

The statement further cements speculations hinting that HTC is slated to take control of the Nexus 2016 project, and the Taiwanese smartphone maker will soon manufacture two Stock Android handsets, one out of which will be patterned after the HTC 10. If rumors proved true, Google-HTC association is not just a one-off project, in fact the 2016 Nexus series is part of the three-year deal between the two companies.

This is hardly surprising as Google would obviously prefer a locked-in agreement with a reliable hardware partner such as HTC in the long term. The intention is to enhance the quality of the upcoming Nexus devices which have reportedly been afflicted by several issues including delayed production.

The purported Nexus 2016 smartphones are codenamed "Marlin" and "Sailfish."

"Marlin" made an appearance on Google Chromium source site confirming earlier reports that hinted the presence of Marlin Nexus smartphone. However, Google did not shed any light on Marlin's specs or features, MobiPicker reported.

Several tech publications are also speculating that a third Nexus device is slated to make an appearance this year, originating from China courtesy of Huawei. Strong rumors also hint an upgraded 6P is in the making and will debut with identical design and build, but with augmented inside components, particularly 4GB of RAM and Snapdragon 820. According to one Huawei executive, the tech company is working on the Nexus again this year, further stirring rumors that the Nexus 6P is scheduled for second coming.

The 6P without question, is the best-designed Nexus product so far and its return would appeal to those potential buyers who aren't quite thrilled about the new look and feel of the Nexus phone, but still want an all-new Nexus - This totally justifies a second Nexus 6P from Huawei.

Judging by this, it looks like Nexus fans are in for a surprise on release date, which is rumored to be in August this year or as soon as the final cut of Android N is ready to release - apparently Nexus 2016 will unveil in three irresistible styles hatched by Google in association with Huawei and HTC.