Android Silver to replace Nexus

It seems that Google’s Nexus line of products is on the way out if rumors are to be trusted. Evleaks, a leaker that has been right many times before, revealed that Google wants to replace Nexus with a new brand called “Android Silver”. Although the first Silver devices are scheduled to launch at the beginning of next year (February), it seems that there will be no successor to Nexus 5 in 2014.

This is the second time we hear about Android Silver, the first time being a few weeks back, when another leak told us something about a new premium Google device, not so different than the “Google Play Edition” lineup. Just like the Nexus phones, the Silver terminals will be built to Google’s specifications, and will give the company a bigger presence in the high-end market. This seems to mean that Google is taking the fight to Samsung, and judging by the history of Nexus devices, these new ones will be cheaper than the competition, with similar or better specs.

How this will affect the tablet part of the Nexus brand is not yet known. So far the leaks only refer to smartphones, so we can assume that at least for a while, the Nexus brand will live on and won’t be shelved.

The rumors say that the first company to build an Android Silver phone will be LG yet again. It seems that leakers got their hands on some specs of one of LG’s terminals which is powered by a Qualcomm MSM8994, also known as Snapdragon 810. The chip is one of the most powerful on the market with 64-bit processing and Cat 6 LTE Advanced multimedia modem, that allows wireless speeds for up to 300 mbps.

Google is reported to have invested in the Silver initiative about $1bn, and wants to limit the control that manufacturers have over Android, with fewer pre-installed apps and the ability to uninstall them.