Forget the Nexus, Google is set to launch its own smartphone by the end of the year
Tech goliath Google is expected to release it own smartphone by the end of the year in a bid to get a bigger slice of the smartphone market.
The search giant has approached mobile operators to discuss manufacturing a Google-branded phone, sources told the Daily Telegraph.
Currently the tech giant provides operating systems for smartphones including the Google Nexus and has partnered with other tech smartphone makers like LG, HTC, Samsung and Huawei for manufacturing handsets. Google's Android is the world's largest mobile operating system supports 1.4bn devices.
Meanwhile, the next Nexus smartphones are expected to hit the shelved in October this year.
In an interview with tech website Recode last month, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said that the firm was “investing more effort” into smartphones.
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Ben Wood, an analyst at CCS Insight, told the paper: “They are concerned that Android is fragmenting, that it needs to become a more controlled platform. I think they’ll seek to control it more, more like Apple.”
Rumour has it that Google is also planning to release an app for providing live customer support on Nexus devices. The search giant is also reportedly redesigning navigation buttons on the next instalment of the Nexus smartphone.