So the rumors are starting to leak out about the next-generation of Nexus devices that Google will release, and word on the street is that Asus and Motorola will be in, and Samsung and LG are out.
The Nexus range of devices refers to the flagship products that Google releases with its own stock version of the Android operating system. Google works with hardware partners to make these devices at a low-cost, reportedly as a stock device that software developers can develop to, as well as a reference model for other Android hardware makers.
Previous generations of the Nexus phones and tablets have been made by partners as varied as HTC, Samsung and LG. HTC worked with Google to make the original Nexus and Nexus S smartphones, while Samsung produced the Nexus 10 ten-inch tablet and Galaxy Nexus smartphone, and LG made the Nexus 4 smartphone.
Samsung is increasingly dominating the smartphone and tablet market. In this past quarter (Q2 2013), Samsung actually surpassed Apple as the most profitable mobile manufacturer, and is reported to be commanding 95% of the entire profits of Android devices shipped. (95%! That’s a whopper!)
So it would be no surprise that Google may be taking a defensive move to avoid Samsung becoming the 600-pound gorilla in the Android space - a space that Google helped create with its own Android operating system. It could also be that Google wants to help smaller manufacturers tilt towards the Android operating system and push their devices, while also hedging against an increasingly dominant Samsung.