SAN FRANCISCO – What’s better than one new Nexus smartphone? Two, if you’re Google. The tech giant on Tuesday unveiled a pair of phones: the Nexus 5X from LG and the Nexus 6P from Huawei. The devices were shown off at a Google event in San Francisco.
Both the Nexus 5X, which starts at $349, and the Nexus 6P, which starts at $499, are available for early order, but won’t ship until October.
Though Nexus smartphones have never been blockbusters, they’re critical in promoting Google’s Android operating system, mobile software that powers more than 80 percent of the world’s smartphones and tablets. Each Nexus smartphone launches with the latest version of Android and serves as an example of the software’s latest and greatest capabilities.
The Nexus brand holds sway with Android enthusiasts, who believe the devices run the purest version of the software, free of extra bells and whistles from handset vendors and wireless carriers. Creating a Nexus smartphone for Google is a boon for vendors like Huawei because they share in the buzz that surrounds a high-profile product.
The smartphones will be the standard-bearers for Android 6.0, also known as Marshmallow. There’s typically a lag between when the Nexus phones appear and when other mainstream smartphones, including Samsung’s Galaxy Note 5, LG’s G4 or HTC’s One M8, get the latest software. In addition to coming preinstalled on the new Nexus 5X and 6P, Android 6.0 will start rolling out to other Nexus phones as an update next week. The new version of the operating system includes Google’s Android Pay mobile payment technology, improved privacy and power-saving features, and the new personal-assistant feature Google Now on Tap.
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