tech2 News Staff

Google may be working on an affordable variant of the Nexus phone, thereby making it the cheapest Nexus branded device. Citing a report from a Chinese website, BGR says that the alleged Nexus device will sell under $100.

Google is apparently working with Taiwanese chip maker MediaTek to make the processor that will be seen in this alleged Nexus smartphone. There are no details yet on which handset maker will be making the new affordable device.

Google is also believed to be working on Nexus 6, its next iteration in the popular Nexus range. The Economic Times points out, "The market is moving away from Apple's iPhone business, if that business is defined as $300+ phones with small screens. Apple sells the iPhone at around $700. Virtually all the growth in smartphone sales recently has been in the sub-$300 price range, and in the large-screen phones category. So if Google was to bring out a high performance Android at the $100 level, it could terrify Samsung and Apple. A $100 high-quality Android would mean that consumers can finally pick from two wildly differently priced, high performing phones."

There are also speculations that Google is planning to launch an 8.9-inch Nexus tablet this year which will be made by HTC. The successor to the Nexus 5 is also on the plate later this year.

In February, there were some rumours floating around that at this year Google I/O will see the launch of the next iteration of Android namely 4.5, along with the launch of Nexus 8. Other rumours included the fact that it could be manufactured by HTC and that Google may ditch the Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC for an Intel chipset.