Google’s legacy, Nexus lineup, might not be able to make it much further, if sources are to be believed. The popular Nexus smartphones and the Nexus tablet will, most probably, drop the ‘Nexus’ badge and probably come with a new name.
The Nexus smartphones, which are rumoured to be developed by HTC, under the codename of Nexus Marlin and Nexus Sailfish might come out with a completely different name for the popular vanilla-flavoured Android smartphone series.
If this leak is actually true, it will be a good long 7 year stint for the premium-yet-affordable Nexus smartphones by Google as the company paves way for a new fresh line-up. The last smartphones under the Nexus brands, Nexus 6P and 5X, did quite well in the industry but were slowly left behind by the likes of Samsung Galaxy S7 and OnePlus Three.
Google is also working on its own smartphone, and while it is not yet clear, the company might tag that phone with the Nexus series. If all this makes sense, HTC’s smartphones will not have the same vanilla-Android feel to them as they will come with a few customizations.
What else is expected from the Google smartphones this year?
Now that HTC is developing this year’s smartphones for Google, the leaks also suggest that the software on these phones will be different from the one seen in Nexus devices usually. There will be additional applications and UI tweaks here and there which will differentiate the phones for Nexus smartphones.
Evan Blass, popularly known as evleaks, has also time and again confirmed that the two smartphones this year might drop the ‘Nexus’ branding and move to a new alias. However, these are just leaks and nothing can be said until the Google decides to unveil the two smartphones this year.
The smartphones are also expected to come with redesigned navigation buttons, enhanced search and a few new application and user interface tweaks that will allow users more flexibility and improved customization as compared to Nexus.
If the above mentioned is true, then we can see more than two smartphones from Google this year. One series, the new one, with a fresh brand name and pleases the likes of developers, and the second one, continuing with Nexus, that offers a plain Android experience.
Source: Android Central