While Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) has yet to announce the official release of the Nexus 5, the smartphone reportedly did appear for a time on Google Play store, alongside the Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 tablets, with a list price “starting at $349.” The tagline for the LG-made phone was “Capture the everyday and the epic in fresh new ways.”

Rumors about the specs, price and release date of Google’s upcoming flagship phone have swirled for weeks. The Nexus 5 supposedly will run on Android 4.4 KitKat, and it has been speculated to cost anywhere from $299 to $399 for the 16GB and up to $449 for the 32GB. Third-party cases for the new device have already appeared on Google+ and Amazon.com.

Was the listing at the Google Play store made in error, as it appears, or a tease to enhance the building buzz for the new smartphone? What is almost certain is that a Google announcement about the launch of the Nexus 5 cannot be far off.

That puts it ahead of Apple Inc.’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) next iPhone, rumored to be released in the first quarter of 2014, though some expect it as late as the third quarter. So far, the biggest rumor about the so-called iPhone 6 is that it will feature a bigger display than the iPhone 5s. Rival smartphones already have five-inch displays. Could the new iPhone go so far as a six-inch screen, as some have speculated?

Apple has been characteristically tight-lipped about its next-generation iPhone. So time will tell. Until then, Google will get to play in the shiny, new smartphone space for a while.

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