December marks the perfect time to look back on the year that just flew by. We're doing plenty of that — and you can too, by voting in our Readers' Choice poll for the best phone of 2022 — but we're also excited about what's coming on the horizon. With 2023 just around the corner, you can expect to see countless new phones launch in the first few months of the year, some expected and some not-so-much. You can throw this new Motorola leak in the latter category, as it sports a brand we never expected to see in the world of smartphones.

It's no secret that Lenovo owns Motorola — Google sold the company off way back in 2014 — but the two brands have by and large remained separate entities in the past decade. It looks like that could be changing, at least for this particular phone. As leaked by The Tech Outlook, Motorola is working on a ThinkPhone-branded device, clearly crafted after Lenovo's (née IBM) lineup of business-oriented laptops (via SlashLeaks).

ThinkPhone

Although the Lenovo name is nowhere to be seen, the "ThinkPhone by motorola" logo utilizes the same font as seen in the usual ThinkPad logo on laptops. The back of the device features a faux carbon fiber finish reminiscent of its computers, along with a squared-off gray frame and a red button near the top-left corner. Considering a power button and volume rocker appear placed along the right side of the phone, it's an odd addition — potentially a customizable hardware shortcut or a shutter button à la Sony's Xperia lineup.

It's hard to make out much else in these admittedly blurry press images, though some kind of partnership with Lenovo's ThinkPad lineup appears in the cards. Thankfully, we also have a specs sheet to go with these photos, offering us a glimpse at a fairly powerful flagship.

Motorola pairs a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 with 8GB or 12GB of RAM and up to 512GB of storage. While it's not the latest and greatest from Qualcomm, that particular SoC left us mighty impressed with recent flagships throughout the back half of 2022. As long as the ThinkPhone hits the market relatively quickly, it's hard to complain.

A 6.6" QHD+ pOLED 144Hz display is about as high-end as screens come these days, while a 5,000mAh battery with 68W fast-charging rounds out a modern ultra-powerful flagship. Really, the biggest question remains the camera. Photography has never been Motorola's strong suit, and a 50MP primary lens paired with a 13MP ultra-wide and 2MP depth sensor doesn't exactly inspire confidence. At the very least, a 32MP front-facing camera with auto-focus sounds like a dream for all of those various Zoom calls required throughout the day.

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Unfortunately, the one thing this leak lacks is any word on availability. It's unclear whether Motorola and Lenovo intend to market this device globally, or if it'll stay as an exclusive in China. Considering the specs on display here, though, expect the ThinkPhone to cost a pretty penny whenever it launches in 2023.