LG Won’t Make Another Nexus Phone This Year

LG and Google have made a great team in recent years, together developing a number of phones as part of Google’s Nexus range that provided high-quality devices at a budget-friendly price point. If anyone was hoping for another new Nexus phone from LG this year, though, they’ll be sorely disappointed as an LG spokesperson revealed to CNET at Mobile World Congress that they won’t be developing a successor to the Nexus 5X and that “LG needs to focus on its own brand.”

While LG has really put themselves in the smartphone game with the successes of the Nexus 4, 5 and 5X, the move away from Nexus this year makes sense for the company. Their brand-new device, the LG G5 is just on the horizon and set to go head-to-head with the Samsung S7 and other flagship phones due out in 2016. This means that while LG still maintains that they are “totally happy” with their relationship with Google and work on Nexus phones, the resources to fuel both the G5 to its fullest potential and develop a brand new Nexus device simply don’t exist. Making Nexus devices just doesn’t bring in the money and brand recognition that can be found in releasing higher budget flagship devices, with the Google brand taking most of the recognition and the devices selling with relatively small profit margins.

Making Nexus devices just doesn’t bring in the money and brand recognition that can be found in releasing higher budget flagship devices, with the Google brand taking most of the recognition and the devices selling with relatively small profit margins. Hopefully, LG will continue to work on Nexus devices beyond the immediate future, however, as I am sure myself and many others would be saddened to see such solid budget devices from LG disappear.