On release, the original Nexus was the go-to Android device if you wanted bang-for-your-buck. Sadly, its successor, the Nexus 5X, couldn’t quite follow in its footsteps and with the Pixel, it appeared Google had abandon the Nexus moniker… and its price-to-power reputation. However, sources talking to XDA point to the return of the Nexus, though whether it’s tied to actual hardware is another question entirely.
XDA’s Mario Tomás Serrafero, citing “a source familiar with the matter”, writes that near-final hardware suggests a pair of devices — one large, the other small.
The bigger device, called “Taimen”, will pack a 5.99-inch, 1440p OLED LG display, 2.45GHz Snapdragon 835 processor and 4GB RAM, while its lighter companion, named “Walleye”, will have the same internals, though the screen will be 4.97-inch.
Good to know, sure, but Serrafero says the source had news regarding the Nexus name, unfortunately, it’s hard to gather whether it’ll be used for a new phone, or just slapped on software:
Pixel vs. Nexus Imprint
An interesting detail we’ve learned about is that the pre-production software our source became familiar with on taimen used the name “Nexus Imprint” when referring to the device’s fingerprint scanner, while walleye’s settings referred to it as “Pixel Imprint”.
Hardly proof that we’ll get a gadget labelled “Nexus”, but something to keep an eye on as more information comes to light. How nice would it be if Google took a page from the old Nexus 5 price/performance playbook with its Pixel successors?