Google's popular flagship mobile phone brand, Nexus, has been manufactured by HTC, Samsung, and LG in the past, but if recent rumours are anything to go by, Chinese company Huawei could be next in line to produce the only true Google phone on the market.
Google Hardware
Kevin Yang, Director of China Research at iSuppli, stated that Google have in fact confirmed Huawei as the manufacturer of the next Nexus phone. This decision continues Google's reluctance to get into the business of actually making mobile phones, something they've opted against for five generations of Nexus handsets before finally co-developing the Nexus 6 with Motorola Mobility, who Google owned. However, with the news that the next Nexus will be made by Huawei, and the recent sale of Motorola Mobility to Lenovo, it would seem Google's brief fling with making their own phone hardware is over.
Huawei, for their part, have been making big strides in the mobile market lately, with their more recent offerings of the Ascend and the Mate 7 being very popular, proving that Huawei can mix it with the likes of Samsung and LG when it comes to putting out a quality high end smartphone.
Market Expansion
Further strengthening this possibility is the fact that at this year's Mobile World Congress, the CEO of Huawei's consumer division Richard Yu, voiced plans to use Google in their attempts to expand into the American market; a gold mine for any mobile phone manufacturer. On the flip side, one can't help wonder if Google might have a similar agenda; China is one of the biggest markets (and growing) for a number of Internet products and services that Google provide. And, while dominant in other parts of the world, they have struggled to get a proper foothold in China.
That's not to say Huawei haven't earned this kind of deal on their own merit, but the fact that a Chinese manufactured Google phone might help Google increase their Chinese marketshare somewhat probably didn't hurt.
Time Scales
The Nexus has typically run on a yearly cycle, with a new iteration coming out towards the end of the year. The latest handset, the Nexus 6, landed on consumer's doorsteps in November 2014, so this story isn't likely to result in anything tangible for at least eight months, or perhaps six months for an announcement.
In any case, Huawei will be eager to make a strong showing with a handset that will have more buzz around it than their previous outings, if not because of the Google logo on the back, but also because of their previous successes.
The only questions that remains is what to call it. The Galaxy Nexus was the last named iteration, being succeeded by the Nexus 4, then the Nexus 5, and now the Nexus 6. However a Nexus 7 already exists in the form of the Asus made Google branded tablet. Not to mention 7 inches would be ridiculously oversized for a phone.
Perhaps Google will take a page out of Apple's iBook. Nexus 4S, anyone?