14 DAY TRIAL // Good news for Nexus fans, as Google plans to launch the long-expected Nexus 6 smartphone sometime this month, along with the new version of its mobile operating system, Android L.
According to a report from WSJ, the next flagship smartphone in the Nexus family is expected to hit shelves in October and make it way into the phablet market where it will compete with Samsung Galaxy Note 4 and iPhone 6 Plus.
These are pretty strong competitors and Google will have a hard time defeating them, though there’s one advantage that the search giant always had over its rivals, and that’s the price of its Nexus handsets.
Dubbed Motorola Shamu (after a killer whale), the Nexus 6 will be packed with a huge 5.9-inch capacitive touchscreen display that is likely to support QHD (2560 x 1440 pixels) resolution.
Of the three phablets we mentioned earlier, the Nexus 6 will have the largest display. Samsung Galaxy Note 4 comes with a 5.7-inch QHD display, while Apple’s iPhone 6 Plus sports a 5.5-inch full HD display.
Although initial rumors pointed to a much smaller 5.2-inch Nexus 6 smartphone, it looks like Google has decided to launch a much larger handset to fill a gap into its offering.
Phablets account for 24% of the market and Google wants a piece of the pie
The largest Nexus smartphone Google has launched until now is the Nexus 5, which sports only a 5-inch full HD (1080p) display.
However, those who were expecting Google to launch a smaller Nexus smartphone should not despair, as rumors claim there will be more than one Nexus handset announced this month.
Unfortunately, we can’t confirm the information, as things are a bit confusing for the moment. It’s unclear how Google will proceed with the Nexus lineup and whether or not it will make the smaller Nexus available through its Android Silver series.
Neil Mawston, a mobile-industry analyst at Strategy Analytics, claims the Google is trying to boost sales of Nexus family in emerging markets with phablet, as customers might be tempted to replace their desktops and laptops with the large Nexus 6.
It’s an interesting speculation, though an important factor in all this will be the price of the Nexus 6 in these emerging markets.
Although Google is known for selling its flagship smartphone pretty cheap if purchased through Google Play Store, let’s not forget the Nexus 6 packs a 5.9-inch QHD display and a very powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 processor.
We expect more details on Google’s launch event where the Nexus 6 is supposed to be unveiled, to emerge next week, so stay tuned for more updates on the matter.