You’ve all seen the photo of a Google employee holding a phone that’s probably the next Nexus. It’s a screenshot from a video that was uploaded by Google to celebrate the naming of the next version of Android, version 4.4 KitKat. That video has since been taken down, but mirrors of it exist. There are now three key questions you should all be thinking about: When will Google announce the next Nexus? How much will it cost? Who will be making it?
Starting in reverse order, the company that gets chosen to make the next Nexus has little to no relevance to the success of the device. The Nexus program has never been for consumers, it’s been for developers looking to buy cheap devices to test their apps on. Nexus phones will never have the best camera, they’ll never have the best specs, and they’ll never come with the same robust levels of support that your operator or companies like Samsung provide.
That being said, they will always come with the latest version of Android.
How much will the next Nexus cost? Again, this isn’t going to be a surprise to anyone, but it’ll be cheap. We’ll all scream from the top of our lungs about how cheap it is compared to a Galaxy S4 or an HTC One, but again, we shouldn’t because we all know it’ll be cheap. Why is it cheap? Because Google doesn’t want to make money on hardware, and they’re not going to spend a dime on advertising.
And now finally, the key question: When? Earlier this week, the 8GB Nexus 4 sold out at the Google Play Store. (lsu79.org) The internet being the internet, everyone covered the story. One site, however, Droid-Life, snuck in a nugget of information in their article that needs to be highlighted:
“The next Nexus phone should arrive some time in October, possibly around October 31, according to sources of ours.”
Which brings me to my longwinded conclusion: Halloween is all about the candy, and the next version of Android is named after candy. This year, Halloween takes place on a Thursday, which is a perfect day to announce new gear.
Hence the theory: New Nexus on Halloween.
Thoughts?
