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Google May Drop The Nexus Branding From The Phones This Year

Google might opt for another name for this year's flagships.
ASSOCIATED PRESS

It seems that the iconic Nexus brand will be vanishing the year as a report from Android Central suggests that Google might drop the branding.

The two phones built by HTC will be carrying a different brand then Nexus, sources told Android Central. Google started the trend of launching two phones just last year with LG's Nexus 5X and Huawei's Nexus 6P.

On 23 August Google started rolling out the newest version of Android called Nougat (7.0) to the Nexus devices. This is the first time the search giant has not launched a Nexus phone with the latest upgrade of the smartphone operating system.

As Google suggested earlier, from this year 'Nexus' phones will get extra features which would be exclusive to them in addition to stock Android. The Nexus phones have been known to offer barebone Android experience, so this branding change would be in-line with that.

A report from Android Police suggests that the new phone might have a redesigned home button and navigation buttons.

In another change this year, the new phones from Google won't be the first ones getting Android Nougat 7.0 out of the box. Instead, LG's V20 smartphone will be the frontrunner of Nougat.

Reports suggest that this year's smartphone duo from Google would be costlier than last year's Nexus phones. But looking at the leaked spec sheet, both of the phones are offering hardly any upgrade over the flagships of the last year.

Google's choice of HTC and LG as Nougat's flagbearers is strange. But this can be an attempt to keep the competitors afloat after a dismal performance overall. Reports also suggest that Google might be launching their own smartwatches with Android Wear 2.0 this year.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.