Moto X Custom, Headphone

Last year, a Motorola device with the model number XT912A, eventually the Moto X, turned up well ahead of its August unveiling. Today, via Droid-Life, a mysterious handset with that same model number has suddenly turned up over at GFXBench, possibly giving us our first taste of the Moto X+1, or whatever the company's successor will be. Judging by the information that's available, this won't be the mid-range underachiever many folks considered the Moto X to be.

Let's just get to the good stuff. According to the benchmark under the XT912A model number, the potential Motorola device will sport a 5.2-inch 1080p display, 2.3GHz Snapdragon 800 processor, 2GB of RAM, Android 4.4.3, 24GB of storage (that seems fishy to us), and a 12-megapixel rear-facing camera (2-megapixel front). That's competitive to some of the latest flagships out today, and is definitely a step up from the specs in the original Moto X, which came with a 4.7-inch 720p display and Motorola X8 chip (Snapdragon S4 Pro).

Motorola has already said to expect a Moto X follow up this summer, and rumors of the successor have slowly been leaking out. This speculation is based purely on the fact that the device has the exact same model number of last year's Moto X. The device could just as easily be a different Motorola device entirely—some are suggesting it'll fall into the DROID family, which could be just as likely.

Given the information that's available, the device is certainly being brought up to snuff in the hardware department. Many people disregarded the Moto X as a viable competitor due to its mid-range specs, but the device was actually our favorite in the whole of 2013. Not an easy feat considering we had the Galaxy S4, iPhone 5s and HTC One all in the same year.

If Motorola can retain the same approach it introduced in the Moto X last year—useful software additions, excellent build—it might have another success on its hands. In addition to a possible spec boost, the Moto X successor may also feature new Moto Maker options as an added bonus. The crumbs are already being left behind by Motorola, it seems, now we just need to find out where they lead.