Nexus 5 Price to Be $399 Because of Nexus 4 LTE Launch, Says Insider





With the Nexus 5 launch just around the corner we tried to find out more details about the upcoming smartphone co-developed by Google and LG. A source close to the Mountain View-based giant who wished to remain anonymous has revealed for us that the Nexus 5 will be more expensive than its predecessor.

According to him, the 16 GB Nexus 5 will be priced $399, while the 32 GB model will have price tag of $449 in Play Store. But why won't the new Nexus have the same price point as Nexus 4? Because Google will also launch an LTE-enabled Nexus 4 synchronized with the debut of the Nexus 5. According to our source the technical specifications of the Nexus 4 LTE will be similar to the ones of the model launched last year. The only difference between the Nexus 4 LTE and the original Nexus 4 is the internal storage, as the LTE-enabled model will come with either 16 or 32 GB of storage, at the same prices at its predecessor $299 and $349, respectively.

In fact, Google and LG won't even have to change anything inside the old Nexus 4 because the Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset that is fitted inside already comes with a 4G LTE chip. When the Nexus 4 was initially launched along with Android 4.2 there was a way to unofficially enable 4G LTE by accessing the "Phone info" menu from the dial pad, but the Android 4.2.2 update has killed the unofficial 4G LTE mode for Nexus 4.

If the Android 4.4 KitKat update re-enables the 4G LTE support for Nexus 4, then in theory, the owners of the old Nexus 4 units will also be able to take advantage of the new feature. This might also be the reason why we've seen so many leaks of Android 4.4 running on Nexus 4 devices.

As a reminder, the Nexus 5 is expected to arrive with a 5-inch 1080p LCD display, quad-core Snapdragon 800 chipset, 2 GB of RAM, 16/32 GB of storage, and an 8 MP camera with optical image stabilization.

Even though we trust our sources, we are advising you to take the information with a pinch of salt, as nothing is confirmed until Google makes an official announcement.

Reports have indicated that Google will announce the Nexus 5 and Android 4.4 KitKat today, October 14, but it looks like the launch event was moved to a later date since the Mountain View-based company didn't sent in any invitations.