Plastic is out and metal, leather and wood are in as smartphone vendors hope luxurious-looking devices will inspire buyers to upgrade.

This year has already seen an increased focus on design with the acclaimed HTC One M8 and the criticized Galaxy S5 from Samsung Electronics. At the IFA trade show in Berlin we’re seeing even more attention spent on looks, not just performance, with Samsung’s Galaxy Note 4, the Ascend Mate7 from Huawei Technologies and the new Moto X from Motorola all trying to shine in metal.

“I think the spec game is over; it just doesn’t matter to consumers that much. It matters to some, but there are millions of consumers that want a cool looking device,” said Christoph Janeba, international portfolio director at Motorola Mobility, which launched new versions of the Moto X and Moto G smartphones on Friday.

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