According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, Google and its Motorola branch are working on a future high-end smartphone to rival the Apple iPhone and the Galaxy S lineup.

Dubbed simply the “X Phone”, the device is expected to show up some time next year, according to WSJ’s source. The project is reportedly being led by Lior Ron, who has previously worked as a Google Product Manager, but now is busy at work with the Motorola team.

Additionally, Motorola engineers are also working on an "X" tablet, that's going to launch after the “X” phone debuts. In the meantime, the company is going to continue its work on the DROID lineup of smartphones.

Motorola's CEO Dennis Woodside (former Google top sales exec) said in an interview with the WSJ that the company is “investing in a team and a technology that will do something quite different than the current approaches. ”

The project’s leader, Lior Ron, reportedly has demanded the phone to sport killer camera. In its quest to make the phone truly unique, Motorola has looked into incorporating different materials such as ceramics, which would make the “X Phone” more resistant to drops.

WSJ sources add that Motorola’s acquisition of gesture and facial recognition company Viewdle will also be thrown in to the mix to bring some truly unique features to the device. Could the X Phone, intriguing as it sounds, be ready for Google’s I/O 2013 event in the summer of 2013? We’ll have to wait and see.

Source | Via