Rumors of a Google phone have been doing rounds for some time now. Latest reports in the saga suggest the Internet giant will come out with an Android device this year.
Citing a senior company source, The Telegraph reported Google will release a phone by end of this year and that the company is discussing with mobile operators about the device. The move is reportedly aimed at taking Apple head on and gain control over how its free operating system, Android, is used. Android runs on nearly every smartphone on the planet, with Apple iOS claiming the rest.
Google's modular smartphone Ara is in the works but what the company intends is a high-end device that can take on not just the iPhone but also on Android rivals including Samsung. Making a device could help Google control hardware and software much like what Apple does with iPhone.
The idea of control seems plausible given equipment manufacturers often modify Android with layers of bloatware and skins that many users may find frustrating. Nexus devices, partnerships of Google with equipment makers like LG, HTC and Huawei, help Google ensure Android used the way it envisaged. However, most phones that operate the OS are outside the ambit of Nexus line.
Google, rather its parent Alphabet, may also want to launch a phone given its absence from one of world's biggest markets; making smartphones would put its software into more hands. The company is reportedly frustrated that there only a handful of premium options available.
While exciting, speculation of Google making phones flies in the face of what its chief Sundar Pichai said last month. According to MacRumors, Pichai said the company was 'investing' more effort into phones in the context of Nexus devices. Google had also hired Rick Osterloh, former Motorola President, to handle Nexus-related partnerships and its hardware endeavors.
