Rumours surfaced earlier this year that Google would retire its Nexus program in 2015. Before that, further rumours suggested that Google would release at least one more Nexus device possibly manufactured by Lenovo. Speaking at Mobile World Congress this week, Sundar Pichai, Google’s Senior Vice President of Chrome and Apps, confirmed that there will be a Nexus 6 later this year.
Without providing any specific launch or device details, Pichai only said, “I can assure you that it will not launch in the first half of the year.” Both the Nexus 4 and Nexus 5 launched late in the year and it’s clear that the Nexus 6 will be no exception.
Pichai also spoke about Google’s relationship with Samsung. He described it as “more boring than it would appear” on the surface. Despite Samsung opting to use Tizen for its new Gear and Gear Neo smartwatches, the two companies continue to collaborate as much as they have in the past. Not surprisingly, Pichai would have preferred that Samsung continue to use Android for its smartwatches but describes them as “one product among hundreds.” He also added that he was sure that the Samsung Galaxy S6 would run on Android as its predecessors have.
Pichai also quickly touched upon Android security (not a surprise given it is the most popular mobile operating system), the Nokia X’s use of Android (it proves Android is open source) and the recent WhatsApp purchase by Facebook for US$19 billion (Google never made an offer).
And just like that, we’ve officially kicked off the Google Nexus 6 and Samsung Galaxy S 6 rumours…