Google wants more control over production Nexus phones

Google CEO Sundar Pichai says he wants to exercise more control over the Nexus smartphones with Android. This would give the manufacturers less influence on the phones that they make in close collaboration with Google.

The change would be Google’s latest move to make Nexus phones more like Apple’s iPhone, which is controlled by Apple from design to build, The Information writes. This means that the Android brand should be more prominent in the high-end market, which is mainly dominated by Apple.

With the move, manufacturers such as Huawei and HTC would be treated more as a hardware partner, as Apple does with Foxconn. In the future, it could even be that the phones only get the Nexus brand. Google developed several Nexus phones with different manufacturers such as LG, Motorola and Huawei.

With the move, Google seems to be looking more at how Apple makes money, namely with hardware, and at the same time Apple seems to be investing more time in its existing and new online services.