Nexus 6 Australian Pricing Announced

Brace yourself: the Australian Nexus 6 pricing is unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. It’s no longer the “device for everyone”, not unless everyone has almost $1000 to spend on the thing.

The Nexus 6 is a monstrous superphone from Google.

The Nexus 6 is basically a super-sized and super-specced Moto X, which Motorola released in September. It comes with a simply massive 5.96-inch 2K screen, a speedy Snapdragon 805 processor, 3GB of RAM and 32GB of onboard storage (a 64GB version is also available). The device weighs in at about 184g with a 10mm thickness, making it one of the thickest phablets you can buy. That bulk could be due in part to Google continuing the awesome tradition of wireless charging in its devices. The Nexus 6 is powered by a 3220mAh battery, supported by Motorola’s Turbo Charger ability to get 6 hours of battery life after only 15 minutes of charging.

Besides its Kaiju-esque size, the Nexus 6 retains many elements of the Moto X’s design. Google keeps the same dual speaker set up, aluminium chassis and the ring flash on the back. The camera itself is a 13-megapixel sensor (2 megapixel on the front), also like the Moto X, but with optical image stabilisation for better low-light images and HDR+. Samsung’s new Galaxy Note 4 and Apple’s own phablet, the iPhone 6 Plus, also came with this nifty feature, so it seems like a big phone requirement at this point.

So what does all the Nexus-flavoured phablet cost?

Lots.

It comes in two storage variants: 32GB and 64GB. The 32GB model will run you $869, while the 64GB model will cost an eye-watering $929. Phew!

It’s not uncommon for a phone to be close to $1000. The Apple iPhone 6 Plus and Samsung Galaxy Note 4 both flirt with the $1000 barrier depending on the storage variant you choose, with other flagships costing roughly $800 outright.

The reason we’re shocked is because the Nexus range has always been the Android phone for the people: a brilliant alternative to the Samsung, LG and Sony flagships that actually presented some insanely good value.

The Nexus 5 for example was $350 when it went on the market. The phone it was based on — the LG G2 — retailed for almost twice that, so to see the new, 6-inch Nexus phablet retail at the same price as an iPhone is a little jarring.

There’s no word on a shipping date for the device yet, but it’s up on the Play Store now anyway.

Would you spend almost $1000 on the Nexus 6? Tell us in the comment.