Next Google Nexus Device Could be $100 Android Phone
Is Google planning an entry-level Nexus device?
Google's Nexus devices have been pretty affordable as far as flagship devices go but it looks like the company's next phone might be even more budget friendly than past models. The latest scuttlebutt has Google releasing a new Nexus phone manufactured in partnership with MediaTek. While the last two generations of Nexus have been cheaper than average, this new device is rumored to cost around $100 thanks to low-cost silicon from MediaTek.
The rumor stems from Chinese language site MTKSJ (with translation via gforgames). Details are fairly thin on the ground but gforgames reckons the budget device won’t be replacing the flagship Nexus phone. If that’s true, it means Google could, for the first time ever, release two Nexus phones when it refreshes the device later this year.
Rumors for the Nexus 6 haven’t quite kicked off just yet but if Google sticks with LG as its manufacturing partner, it’s likely the Nexus 6 will be something like the rumoured LG G3, as both the Nexus 4 and Nexus 5 have been very similar to the Optimus G and LG G2. While the aforementioned $100 Nexus remains much of a mystery, there's already talk of the G3 packing a 5.5-inch 2560 x 1440 display.
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Part of the reason why Google entered the phone/tablet market was because they were very unhappy with the general features-vs-price balance of most devices on the market back then and wanted to redefine people's expectations. IMO, it would not be so strange for Google to want to redefine the $100 price point in a similar way they redefined the ~$350 price point with previous Nexus phones and ~$225 price point with N7 tablets.
They will keep their higher end Nexus line, they are just going to introduce a $100 lower-end Nexus as well. If you keep up to date on this stuff, you'll see there are already a lot of really nice phones for $100 these days. Many of the $100 MediaTek phones run the MTK6582 chip, matched with a 940X560 display, adn 512MB of ram.. they actually do pretty good, and score around 16000 on Antutu, which is faster than a top end phone from 2-3 years ago. It's an excellent market to target for those who really don't want to spend $700 on a new phone, or people who like deals.. Heck, for a $100 you could buy a new phone every few months and still pay less than you would for a new iPhone or Galaxy S4
Now if Google "makes" a sub $100 tablet on top of this.
Part of the reason why Google entered the phone/tablet market was because they were very unhappy with the general features-vs-price balance of most devices on the market back then and wanted to redefine people's expectations. IMO, it would not be so strange for Google to want to redefine the $100 price point in a similar way they redefined the ~$350 price point with previous Nexus phones and ~$225 price point with N7 tablets.
I don't see them doing this with the nexus devices they may do something similar for the 50 - 100 dollar price point with the Ara Line of phones (assuming project Ara is called Ara on launch)
Part of the reason why Google entered the phone/tablet market was because they were very unhappy with the general features-vs-price balance of most devices on the market back then and wanted to redefine people's expectations. IMO, it would not be so strange for Google to want to redefine the $100 price point in a similar way they redefined the ~$350 price point with previous Nexus phones and ~$225 price point with N7 tablets.
I don't see them doing this with the nexus devices they may do something similar for the 50 - 100 dollar price point with the Ara Line of phones (assuming project Ara is called Ara on launch)
I read up on project Ara today. Apparently, the most basic Ara would cost ~$100
Let me find the source...
EDIT:Here it is on Tested.com, under the heading "Google expects the Endoskeleton cost to be under $100"
And for the lazy:
Google expects the Endoskeleton cost to be under $100
When users buy a Project Ara phone, they'll start by buying just the Endoskeleton and basic components, which Google has priced at around $50 for what they call a basic "grey" phone. That includes $15 for the Endo frame, $15 for the display, $5 for a battery, $10 for the main Application Processor module, and $5 for a Wi-Fi unit. These are just the bill of materials cost, and aren't what users will actually pay for modules, but Google is confident that getting started with a working Project Ara phone will cost well under $100. In terms of overall pricing for building a full-featured Project Ara phone, Google says that the only real cost overhead for Ara modules are Unipro technology and the electropermanent magnets. In addition, they expect that a flourishing component ecosystem will drive down prices and offer users more options for pricing.
For marketing purposes. They're banking on people seeing the higher spec and going for it. It doesn't really matter that most users can't distinguish between 1080p and QHD, they'll still want it the same way they want that car that can go over twice the highway speed limit.
I had never heard of MediaTek before--just looked them up, and apparently they supply SOC's for lots of devices, which is encouraging.
But even if Nexus devices go with MediaTek SOC's, I'm still not buying the $100 price-point, assuming it's unsubsidized unlocked.
Google entered the device market because it allowed them to aggregate more user data because that's where they get their money; not from a profit margin on devices. As such, they *can* sell devices at a reduced cost relative to other entities, where that money is recouped in their user-based advertising scheme. It just so happened that for a very long time, Android was so far behind the likes of iOS, you couldn't sell the same priced device and hope the users got the same enjoyment out of using those devices (vs. iphone, ipad, etc.). I think those times have changed, but google's motivation of selling nexus devices was never because they thought device prices were too expensive for consumers. It was because they were dissatisfied with the vast disparity between android devices, manufacturer and carrier bloat that was layered on top of Android, they wanted a certain amount of uniformity and consistency. In the end, it will help funnel Android and android app engineering in a much more focused and structured way, which will get back to better user experience, which will get more users, more user data, user-based advertisement, etc. If google could have gotten in the way that Apple did with carriers almost a decade ago, I don't think I could say that they'd do anything different...
Google does not need to have their own house-brand Android devices for that since they maintain the darned thing and provide just about every default app and service shipped on Android-based devices.
And a large part of that disparity is because there was no clear leader for features vs cost so every manufacturer simply did whatever they wanted. When the Nexus devices got introduced with features matching or exceeding devices costing twice as much, it substantially raised the bar across the board and clearly defined a minimum standard all premium models now pretty much had to beat to justify their higher price tags.
Google wanted to redefine a market they did not like and to do that, they had to price their devices at a point other manufacturers and their potential customers could not afford to ignore.
If you actually bothered to read the article, it says Google might be releasing TWO phones this year, meaning the N6 as the expected flagship device refresh and the rumored $100 phone for people who want a (presumably) Nexus-branded phone but do not want to pay $300+ for one.
It sad that google has got caught up in this idiotic pixel race. All the of gains N5’s CPU were lost by going to a 1080p screen and the battery life is terrible. It's a terrible engineering trade-off. I have excellent vision and when I hold a N4 and N5 side-by-side, and I can't see any difference between the two.
If google had used a 720p screen, I would have seen a huge boost in battery life and game performance. With the N6, if google pairs a budge MediaTek chip with a 1080p screen, the performance is going to be terrible.
It sad that google has got caught up in this idiotic pixel race. All the of gains N5’s CPU were lost by going to a 1080p screen and the battery life is terrible. It's a terrible engineering trade-off. I have excellent vision and when I hold a N4 and N5 side-by-side, and I can't see any difference between the two.
If google had used a 720p screen, I would have seen a huge boost in battery life and game performance. With the N6, if google pairs a budge MediaTek chip with a 1080p screen, the performance is going to be terrible.
Not only that, but the N5 uses a 2300mah battery AND a high-end processor with a high res screen. With phones like the LG G2 able to cram 3000mah and still have a very light weight (and also on a 1080p screen), it's asinine to use such a small capacity battery that barely gets a days worth of use like in the N5 case.