Of the two Nexus devices that came out in 2015, one was built by Chinese company Huawei. A premium device that had impressive specs, it was a good phone despite its shortcomings. Now, one can look forward to not only seeing another Huawei-built Nexus smartphone, but also more devices rolling out as the company sets its sights on the top spots held by Apple and Samsung in the samrtphone market.
While reports said Google would be partnering with HTC to make two Nexus-branded phones, a Huawei executive said the company will be making one more Nexus device. The executive, Charlene Munilall, the general manager of Huawei's consumer business group in South Africa, was discussing the Nexus 6P and how it fared in the South African market when she said: "We're doing the Nexus again this year, by the way." BGR cited a Gearbeast interview to quote Munilall as saying this.
While there has been no official announcement from Google about the next round of Nexus devices, Google CEO Sundar Pichai did confirm that the Nexus line would continue to exist. Instead of offering a plain-vanilla Android experience, Pichai also said Google would be adding more thoughtful features to its devices that would be manufactured by third-party device-makers.
According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, Huawei also has its eyes on the share of the market currently held by Apple and Samsung. Richard Yu, Huawei's head of consumer electronics, told WSJ the company is sure it would be able to topple the smartphone giants within a five-year period.
"We want to be the number-one smartphone-maker in the world. It's a long-distance race, and we have the patience," Yu was quoted by WSJ as saying.
In a study on global smartphone shipments by Gartner, Apple and Samsung held 23.2 and 14.8 percent of the smartphone market, respectively. Huawei, on the other hand, had an 8.3 percent market share during the same period.
"Our growth is mainly coming from the high-end, premium segment. If you want to be the leading vendor you have to lead in the high-end," Yu said.
