For about the past five months now, rumors have been swirling around this idea that the Nexus series of Android phones and tablets was coming to a close. After initial talk of Google Play editions possibly rising to take their place, rumors of Android Silver popped-up, and it became the presumed replacement for the Nexus program. And while neither Silver nor Nexus came up at the Google I/O keynote, that new business of Android One with its own stock Android experience could easily be seen as further fuel for these rumors. But was all this death-of-Nexus panic premature? Have we been getting worked up over nothing? That sounds like it’s the case, as Google Engineering Director David Burke weighs-in on the rumors.
While Burke wasn’t able to comment directly on those rumors about Android Silver, he’s emphatic that development of Nexus devices is intimately tied to how Google prepares Android releases. He explains, “people have been commenting about Nexus because there is something else and they think that means the end of Nexus. That is the totally wrong conclusion to make.”
Burke falls short of outright confirming plans for a specific new Nexus model, whether that’s a Nexus 6 phone or Nexus 8 tablet, but comments like “we are still invested in Nexus” are hard to read as anything but supportive of the idea of future Nexus releases.
What’s all this mean for Android Silver? Well, maybe nothing – maybe it could simply exist alongside Nexus models. Maybe it would replace Google Play editions. We’re still probably many months away from knowing for sure, but we’re going to be resting a lot easier knowing that whatever form Silver takes, it’s not going to be arriving at the expense of new Nexus models.
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