While the internet is dominated by news of HTC’s Nexus 2016 phone codenamed Sailfish, it is also emerging that Google wants to get deeper into the smartphone market by unleashing a company-made Android phone to compete with Apple’s iPhone.
Earlier this year, Google-centric website 9to5 Google reported that the search engine giant was planning to have a go in the smartphone market in a bid to make life a little harder for Apple-made iPhones. Of course, this is nothing to do with completely taking over the Google Nexus program where the company has often handed different OEMs the task to manufacture the handsets.
As noted at the beginning, HTC seems to be in the front-runners seat as far as the Google Nexus 2016 phones are concerned. Last year, Huawei and LG took care of matters, with Google’s only task being to supply the software to be used on the phones. If anything, the Nexus series is the only way one can enjoy a pure Android experience on phones and tablets. But Google wants to expand the selection by coming in with an in-house Android phone.
This will mean that everything right from the hardware to software is taken care of by Google, more like Apple’s iPhone. If anything, this is one of the major reasons Apple has been very successful with the iPhone – because it takes care of a larger part of the hardware and software, making it easier to optimize the devices for better performance. Lack of such tight control over both the hardware and software is what somewhat makes the Nexus and other Android phones lag behind the iPhone, especially when it comes to fragmentation issues that are often faced by Android developers.
The Android vs iOS battle will always be there. But one fact that both parties should agree is that the two operating systems have matured with time. While iOS has had the environment to showcase all of its superior capabilities, Android has not had such a chance. If not the OEMs messing around with the software, it is the same OEMs that partner with Google in making Nexus devices that end up introducing the fragmentation issues. With a pure Android phone made by Google, this is might just be the best chance for the company to beat Apple’s iPhone sales in the country.
If the latest reports about the pure Google smartphone are to be believed, the phone will be here before the end of 2016.