There has been a lot of talk as of late about the next Nexus devices being made by Google. As we all know Google makes all of the software for Android OS, but uses different manufacturers to do the hardware. For this reason there has been much speculation over which manufacturer will have the opportunity to have the next Nexus phone and tablet. Keep in mind that the Nexus tablet is expected to be announced in June, while the Nexus phone is expected to be announced towards the end of the year. I'll be going over these today and my reasoning that would help Google make their choice more clear, by giving examples of all possible outcomes.
First I just want to clear the two that were originally thought about. Motorola and Samsung. Motorola would probably be the worst one Google could go with, for this year only, simply because Google's competitors have put a great fear into other manufacturers that Google will show more favoritism towards Motorola. Which if anything Google has shown it's best to keep the two companies separated, even going to the extent of putting up a firewall between the two companies. Samsung might seem like an obvious first choice for Google, but many online have said it might again show favoritism, since Samsung has produced the last two Nexus devices (the Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus). More on that later. The other choices are looking to be between HTC and LG. Two carriers that have said they are talking to Google right now at least about the next phone device.
Personally I think I would prefer Google and Samsung again for both the phone and the tablet. In android I think the best hardware is Samsung. Even high end phones like the Moto Razr wouldn't be as popular if it had the same screen as the Bionic. The Super AMOLED screen really helped make it a hit. Companies like HTC are now having Super AMOLED screens as well in their upcoming phones and I think it will help them a lot.
I understand it would be showing favoritism but at the same time another nexus phone would be a great strategy for Samsung. They will most likely have their Galaxy S III before summers end, then they could release the Galaxy Nexus S(or 2) right before the holidays. This "one two strategy" definitely worked for them in 2011 and would help them even better in 2012. Think about it, the Galaxy S III comes out and a lot of people purchase it. Huge success. Then the iPhone 5 comes out in October. Sales for the S III drop because the attention then goes to the iPhone 5. Finally in November, a month after all the apple loyalist get their phones, the new Samsung Nexus is announced with new Hardware that drew everyone to the Galaxy S III in the first place with a new OS. Android ends up winning the holiday season, as they would have last year if it wasn't for all the delays and set backs. It's just better business, for Google to dominate the market share in the OS battle and for Samsung to dominate the manufacturer battle.
HTC I think needs to prove itself again this year. Last year they had just so many disappointing phones, especially when they easily had the best phones in 2010. LG hasn't made any amazing phones, and though they've had good quality their skins have not been impressive. I do not believe either brand would bring good PR for Google from a Marketing stand point. HTC will always be a big part of Google, and even if there's a bit of resentment from them, people do not buy HTC phones for their hardware, they buy it for the "Sense" skin interface on top of Android. Since Nexus is stock OS without skins, there’s nothing really that appealing about another HTC Nexus phone. If LG has a backlash, well honestly if LG decided to be exclusively for Windows phones because of it, I don't think it would be a huge loss to Android. The people that had bout LG Android phones could easily go to Samsung or HTC or now Sony.
In terms of the tablet, I would like to see either Asus or Samsung take it. I think either company would do a great job with it. In this instance I see more likely HTC or Samsung than Asus though. Asus already will have a High End Tablet at low price, it just seems like it would be competing with itself. Samsung's new Tab 2 (7.0) will probably be priced at $299, so having a $199 wouldn't take away as much it just would have a greater market share which has been Samsung's strategy for this year, at least for the first half of the year. HTC would be another great candidate simply because we haven't heard about ANY tablet from them. The Flyer and Jetstream were less than successful, and they could make up for it with at least a High End well priced tablet. HTC is such a great company and it was honestly sad to see what happened to them last year in tablets. In the end I think and hope that Google will make some great choices as they have in the past with Android and the Nexus series.
As always this is R-I-C-K-Y, The Android Guy
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