The thought of HTC becoming the sole manufacturer of the Nexus 2016 flagship phones and for the next two years seems to excite the Android. The Taiwanese device maker, after all, has assembled impressive devices like the One M series and the upcoming HTC 10. But will Google's release date plans for the next Nexus really involve just HTC?
In a report for Venture Beat, Evan Blass conceded that three Nexus phones have been made by a lone maker. LG was responsible for the Nexus 4, 5 and the Nexus 5X of last year. But the South Korean company wasn't tapped by Google three years in row. In 2014, the Nexus 6 was supplied by Motorola.
And it has been the case with the Nexus - Google switches from one partner to another but at times sticking to one builder for an extended time. However, Blass, also known as gadget leaker @evleaks, views the reported Google-HTC deal as something that stands on shaky ground.
For one, the source of the report is hardly credible - a Weibo user that commands decent following and seems quite prolific in sharing information via China's most popular microblogging site. But the same source is not reputable enough, at least not in the league of The Wall Street Journal as pointed out by Blass. And the details provided so far are mostly second-hand information.
One thing to consider too is that the timing or circumstances of the deal is a big suspect. It's hard to imagine that coming from the well-received Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P, Google would just decide to ease out both LG and Huawei from the picture and drop everything on HTC. Although it should be noted that Huawei remains part of the Nexus world basing on rumors that the Chinese firm will take charge of the Nexus 7 2016 tablet.
As for LG, the company has reportedly begged off from the project purportedly to focus on its own mobile business.
Still, HTC cornering the Nexus contract from 2016 through 2016 seems a hard sell when Google can always enjoy the luxury of working with the best out there instead of imposing limitations on itself. One alternative would be Xiaomi, which is an emerging name to reckon with in putting together solid and beautiful devices that do not break the bank.
Or Google can just simply task Huawei to do a follow up of the impressive Nexus 6P that should lead to the same result for the Nexus 2016 release date, or likely even better.