Last year saw Google unveil two smartphones in the shape of Nexus 6P and Nexus 5X both running on Android 6.0 Marshmallow.
This year we expect to see Google come in with successors to these two devices as well as the operating system that powers them. We’ve already had a taste of the successor to Android 6.0 Marshmallow. Dubbed Android 7.0 N, the new OS is currently in its second developer preview stage. While previous beta versions of the OS have remained exclusive to Google’s Nexus family, this year has seen a change come in with the Xperia Z3 joining the developer testers.
Enough of the talking and back to business. The release of Nexus 6P saw Google go for a new partner in the shape of Huawei. However, word has it that this year’s Google Nexus phones will be made by HTC. This is good news, especially if you look at what the Taiwanese company has done with the HTC 10, the successor to the highly unsuccessful HTC One M9.
There is very little to shed light on as far as the design is concerned. HTC is famous for its magnificent designs that have propelled its name to the current heights. We expect to see the same or even better from HTC as far as the Nexus 6P successor is concerned. Further under the hood, last year’s Nexus flagship packed the 2015 flagship features, among them a Snapdragon 810 SoC and a RAM of 3GB.
This year has seen a step up in the flagship specs. Samsung, LG, and the said HTC have already shown the rest of the world what 2016 smartphone flagship specs are. As a result, we expect to see the same with this year’s Google Nexus flagship. This means that the phone will possibly come with a Snapdragon 820 SoC and a RAM of 4GB, just like Samsung Galaxy S7, LG G5 as well as HTC 10, among other top phones released this year.
As mentioned earlier, Google usually unveils new Nexus phones powered by a new OS. This year’s OS is already out, but it’s still in beta. With the Google I/O Developer conference set for next month, reports are rife that we might get to see a stable version of the OS. Whether this will be the same time we get to see the successor to the Nexus 6P is still undetermined, however, it is somehow unlikely. Still, Google could simply announce the phones, with an official release to follow a month or even later. One thing that remains to be quite certain is that the new devices will be powered by the new Android N.
Rumor has it that HTC is working on two phones codenamed Marlin and Sailfish. As far as the former is concerned, a Geekbench leak suggests that this phone will be the premium of the two, packing the aforementioned Snapdragon 820, 4GB RAM and powered by Android N. There are no details as far as the Sailfish model is concerned, however, this is believed to be the successor to the LG-made Nexus 5X.