Google Nexus is a discontinued line of consumer electronic devices that run the Android

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ef ...

Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

managed the design, development, marketing, and support of these devices, but some development and all manufacturing were carried out by partnering with

original equipment manufacturer An original equipment manufacturer (OEM) is generally perceived as a company that produces non-aftermarket parts and equipment that may be marketed by another manufacturer. It is a common industry term recognized and used by many professional or ...

s (OEMs). The line also included tablets and streaming media players, though neither type of device are currently available. The most recent tablet was the Nexus 9 (made with

HTC HTC Corporation ( zh, t=宏達國際電子股份有限公司, s=宏达国际电子股份有限公司, p=Hóngdá Guójì Diànzǐ Gǔfèn Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī, first=t) or High Tech Computer Corporation, (literally ''Hongda International Electron ...

), and the most recent streaming media player the Nexus Player (made with Asus). Devices in the Nexus line were considered Google's core Android products. They contained little to no manufacturer or

wireless carrier A mobile network operator (MNO), also known as a wireless service provider, wireless carrier, cellular company, or mobile network carrier, is a provider of wireless communications services that owns or controls all the elements necessary to sel ...

modifications to Android (such as custom

user interface In the industrial design field of human–computer interaction, a user interface (UI) is the space where interactions between humans and machines occur. The goal of this interaction is to allow effective operation and control of the machine f ...

s), although devices sold through carriers may be

SIM lock SIM lock, simlock, network lock, carrier lock or (master) subsidy lock is a technical restriction built into GSM and CDMA mobile phones by mobile phone manufacturers for use by service providers to restrict the use of these phones to specific co ...

ed and had some extra branding. The

Verizon Verizon Communications Inc., commonly known as Verizon, is an American multinational telecommunications conglomerate and a corporate component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is headquartered at 1095 Avenue of the Americas ...

Galaxy Nexus featured a Verizon logo on the back and received software updates at a slower pace than the unlocked variant, though it featured different hardware to accommodate Verizon's

CDMA Code-division multiple access (CDMA) is a channel access method used by various radio communication technologies. CDMA is an example of multiple access, where several transmitters can send information simultaneously over a single communicatio ...

network. Save for some carrier-specific variants, Nexus devices were often among the first Android devices to receive updates to the operating system. All Nexus devices featured an unlockable

bootloader A bootloader, also spelled as boot loader or called boot manager and bootstrap loader, is a computer program that is responsible for booting a computer. When a computer is turned off, its softwareincluding operating systems, application code, an ...

to allow further development and end-user modification. Although Nexus devices were originally produced in small quantities as they were intended as developer phones, the lack of bloatware/modifications to Android while providing similar performance to more expensive flagship smartphones from OEMs gained Nexus devices a considerable following. In addition to the Nexus program, Google also sold

Google Play edition The Google Play edition devices (GPE) is a series of consumer mobile devices sanctioned by Google that run the Android operating system. Unlike the standard versions of Android on these devices, which have received "skins" from the original equ ...

s of OEM devices, which run the "stock" version of Android without the OEM nor carrier modifications. In late 2016, the Nexus lineup was replaced by the

Google Pixel Google Pixel is a brand of consumer electronic devices developed by Google that run either ChromeOS or the Android operating system. The Pixel brand was introduced in February 2013 with the first-generation Chromebook Pixel. The Pixel line incl ...

, which provides a similar stock Android experience but sold for considerably higher prices, directly competing with flagship smartphones from OEMs. Google stated that they "don't want to close a door completely, but there is no plan right now to do more Nexus devices." In 2017, Google partnered with

HMD Global HMD Global Oy, branded as HMD and Nokia Mobile, is a Finnish mobile phone manufacturer. The company is made up of the mobile phone business that Nokia sold to Microsoft in 2014, then bought back in 2016. HMD began marketing Nokia-branded smar ...

in making new

Nokia Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational telecommunications, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, established in 1865. Nokia's main headquarters are in Espoo, Finland, i ...

phones, as part of the

Android One Android One is a family of third-party Android smartphones promoted by Google. In comparison to many third-party Android devices, which ship with a manufacturer's customized user interface and bundled apps, these devices run near- stock ve ...

program, which has been considered by some as a

spiritual successor A spiritual successor (sometimes called a spiritual sequel) is a product or fictional work that is similar to, or directly inspired by, another previous work, but (unlike a traditional prequel or sequel) does not explicitly continue the product ...

to the Nexus.

Devices

Phones

Nexus One

The Nexus One was manufactured by

and released in January 2010 as the first Nexus phone. It was released with Android 2.1 Eclair, and was updated in May 2010 to be the first phone with Android 2.2 Froyo. It was further updated to Android 2.3 Gingerbread. It was announced that Google would cease support for the Nexus One, whose

graphics processing unit A graphics processing unit (GPU) is a specialized electronic circuit designed to manipulate and alter memory to accelerate the creation of images in a frame buffer intended for output to a display device. GPUs are used in embedded systems, m ...

(GPU) is poor at rendering the new 2D acceleration engine of the UI in Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. The Nexus S and newer models have hardware designed to handle the new rendering. It was the only Nexus device to have card storage expandability ( SD). * Display: 3.7" display with 800×480 pixel resolution * CPU: 1 GHz

Qualcomm Qualcomm () is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Diego, California, and incorporated in Delaware. It creates semiconductors, software, and services related to wireless technology. It owns patents critical to the 5G, ...

Scorpion Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the order Scorpiones. They have eight legs, and are easily recognized by a pair of grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back and always en ...

* Storage: 512 MB (expandable) *

RAM Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to: Animals * A male sheep * Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish People * Ram (given name) * Ram (surname) * Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director * RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch * ...

: 512 MB * GPU: Adreno 200 * Camera: 5 MP rear camera

Nexus S

The Nexus S, manufactured by

Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...

, was released in December 2010 to coincide with the release of Android 2.3 Gingerbread. In December 2011 it was updated to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, with most variations later being updatable to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean in July 2012. The device's support was ended after 4.1 Jelly Bean and no longer receives updates from Google. * Display: 4.0" display with 800×480 pixel resolution * Chipset: Hummingbird * CPU: 1 GHz single-core ARM Cortex-A8 * Storage: 16 GB (Partitioned: 1 GB internal storage and 15 GB USB storage) * RAM: 512 MB * GPU:

PowerVR PowerVR is a division of Imagination Technologies (formerly VideoLogic) that develops hardware and software for 2D and 3D rendering, and for video encoding, decoding, associated image processing and DirectX, OpenGL ES, OpenVG, and OpenCL accel ...

SGX540 * Battery: 1500 mAH (replaceable)

Galaxy Nexus

The Galaxy Nexus, again manufactured by Samsung, was released in November 2011 (GSM version, US version released on December 15, 2011) to coincide with the release of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. The device support was ended after 4.3 Jelly Bean and no longer receives updates from Google. This device is known in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

as Galaxy X due to a trademark on the "Nexus" brand. It is also the last Nexus device to have a removable battery. * Display: 4.65" HD Super AMOLED display with 1280×720 pixel resolution * CPU: 1.2 GHz dual-core ARM Cortex A9 * Storage: 16 or 32 GB * RAM: 1 GB

Nexus 4

The Nexus 4 smartphone, also known as the LG Nexus 4 or LG Mako, was released in November 2012 and manufactured by LG. It was the first Android device that used Android 4.2 Jelly Bean update version. Nexus 4 is the first Nexus device to have

wireless charging Inductive charging (also known as wireless charging or cordless charging) is a type of wireless power transfer. It uses electromagnetic induction to provide electricity to portable devices. Inductive charging is also used in vehicles, power too ...

capabilities. It was updated to Android 4.3 in June 2013 and to Android 4.4 in November 2013. It can run Android 5.1 as of April 2015. The Nexus 4 has the following characteristics: * Display: 4.7" Corning

Gorilla Glass Gorilla Glass is a brand of chemically strengthened glass developed and manufactured by Corning, now in its seventh generation. Designed to be thin, light and damage-resistant, the glass gains its surface strength, ability to contain flaws, and ...

2, True HD IPS Plus capacitive touchscreen, 768×1280 pixel resolution, 16M colors * CPU: Quad-core 1.5 GHz Krait * Chipset:

Qualcomm Snapdragon Snapdragon is a suite of system on a chip (SoC) semiconductor products for mobile devices designed and marketed by Qualcomm Technologies Inc. The Snapdragon's central processing unit (CPU) uses the ARM architecture. A single SoC may include ...

APQ8064 * Storage: 8 or 16 GB * RAM: 2 GB * GPU: Adreno 320 * Battery: Non-removable Li-Po 2100 mAh battery, wireless charging * Camera: 8 MP rear camera with 3264×2448 pixels, autofocus, and LED flash; 1.3 MP front camera

Nexus 5

The Nexus 5 smartphone, again manufactured by LG, was scheduled for sale on October 31, 2013 for US$349 at the Google Play store. It was the first device to run

Android 4.4 KitKat Android KitKat is the codename for the eleventh Android mobile operating system, representing release version 4.4. Unveiled on September 3, 2013, KitKat focused primarily on optimizing the operating system for improved performance on entry-level ...

. The Nexus 5 did not receive an official Android 7.0 Nougat update, meaning that Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow is the last officially supported Android version for the device. The Nexus 5 has the following characteristics: * Display: 4.95" Corning

3, IPS LCD touchscreen, 1080×1920 pixel resolution (1080p) * Processor: 2.26 GHz Krait 400 quad-core processor on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 SoC * Storage: 16 or 32 GB * RAM: 2 GB * GPU: Adreno 330 * Battery: 2,300 mAh lithium polymer, wireless charging * Cameras: 8 MP rear camera with optical image stabilization (OIS); 1.3 MP front camera * Connectivity: 4G LTE, 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 * Colors: Black, White, or Red

Nexus 6

The Nexus 6 is a smartphone developed by

Motorola Motorola, Inc. () was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company split into two independent public companies, Motorola ...

, originally running Android 5.0 Lollipop (upgradeable to Android 7.1.1 Nougat). It was first announced on October 15, 2014 along with the Nexus 9 and the Nexus Player. * Display: 5.96" Quad HD AMOLED PenTile (RGBG) display with 1440×2560 pixel resolution (493 ppi) * Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 - Quad-core 2.7 GHz * Modem: Qualcomm MDM9625M * Storage: 32 or 64 GB * RAM: 3 GB * GPU: Adreno 420 * Battery: 3220 mAh with Turbo Charging technology, non-removable, wired charging * Cameras: 13 MP rear camera with f/2.0 lens featuring OIS; 2 MP front camera * Speakers: Dual front facing stereo * Colors: Midnight Blue and Cloud White

Nexus 5X

The Nexus 5X is a smartphone developed by LG originally running Android 6.0 Marshmallow (upgradeable to Android 8.1.0 Oreo). It was first announced on September 29, 2015, along with the Nexus 6P and several other Google devices (such as the

Pixel C The Pixel C is a 10.2-inch (260 mm) Android tablet developed and marketed by Google. The device was unveiled during a media event on September 29, 2015. On October 9, 2018, it was succeeded by the Pixel Slate. Specifications Hardware ...

tablet). * Display: 5.2" FHD LCD display with 1080×1920 pixel resolution (423ppi) * Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 - Hexa-core 1.8 GHz * Storage: 16 or 32 GB * RAM: 2 GB LPDDR3 * GPU: Adreno 418 * Battery: 2700 mAh with rapid charging, non-removable * Cameras: 12.3 MP rear camera with f/2.0 lens and IR laser-assisted autofocus; 5 MP front camera with f/2.0 lens * Speakers: Single front-facing speaker * Colors: Carbon (black), Quartz (white), and Ice (mint)

Nexus 6P

The Nexus 6P is a smartphone developed by

Huawei Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. ( ; ) is a Chinese multinational technology corporation headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. It designs, develops, produces and sells telecommunications equipment, consumer electronics and various sma ...

originally running Android 6.0 Marshmallow. It was first announced on September 29, 2015 along with the Nexus 5X and several other Google devices (such as the Pixel C tablet). * Display: 5.7" WQHD AMOLED display with 1440×2560 pixel resolution (518ppi) * Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 - Octa-core 4 × 1.95 GHz, 4 × 1.55 GHz * Storage: 32, 64, or 128 GB * RAM: 3 GB LPDDR4 * GPU: Adreno 430 * Battery: 3450 mAh with rapid charging, non-removable * Cameras: 12.3 MP rear camera with f/2.0 lens and IR laser-assisted autofocus; 8 MP front camera with f/2.0 lens * Speakers: Dual front-facing stereo * Colors: Aluminum, Graphite, Frost, or Gold

Tablets

Nexus 7

=First generation

On June 27, 2012, at its I/O 2012 keynote presentation, Google introduced the Nexus 7, a 7-inch

tablet computer A tablet computer, commonly shortened to tablet, is a mobile device, typically with a mobile operating system and touchscreen display processing circuitry, and a rechargeable battery in a single, thin and flat package. Tablets, being com ...

developed with and manufactured by Asus. Released in July 2012, it was the first device to run Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. The latest Android version supported by Google for the device is Android 5.1.1 Lollipop. * Display: 7" display with 1280×800 pixel resolution * SoC:

Nvidia Nvidia CorporationOfficially written as NVIDIA and stylized in its logo as VIDIA with the lowercase "n" the same height as the uppercase "VIDIA"; formerly stylized as VIDIA with a large italicized lowercase "n" on products from the mid 1990s to ...

Tegra 3 * CPU: 1.2 GHz quad-core Cortex-A9 * Storage: 8, 16, or 32 GB * RAM: 1 GB * GPU: ULP

GeForce GeForce is a brand of graphics processing units (GPUs) designed by Nvidia. As of the GeForce 40 series, there have been eighteen iterations of the design. The first GeForce products were discrete GPUs designed for add-on graphics boards, inte ...

* Battery: 4325 mAh (non-removable)

=Second generation

On July 24, 2013, at Google's "Breakfast with Sundar Pichai" press conference, Pichai introduced the second generation Nexus 7, again co-developed with Asus. Keeping with Google Nexus tradition, it was simultaneously released with the latest version, Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. It was made available on July 26, 2013 at select retailers and on the

Google Play Google Play, also known as the Google Play Store and formerly the Android Market, is a digital distribution service operated and developed by Google. It serves as the official app store for certified devices running on the Android operating sy ...

store in the United States. On November 20, 2013, it was available from the Google Play stores in Hong Kong and India. On the same day, the Nexus Wireless Charger was made available in the United States and Canada. In December 2015, Google released Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow for the device. The Nexus 7 (2013) will not receive an official Android 7.0 Nougat update, meaning that Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow is the last officially supported Android version for the tablet. * Display: 7.02" display with 1920×1200 pixel resolution * Chipset:

S4Pro * CPU: 1.51 GHz quad-core Krait 300 * Storage: 16 or 32 GB * RAM: 2 GB * GPU: 400 MHz quad-core

Adreno Adreno is a series of graphics processing unit (GPU) semiconductor intellectual property cores developed by Qualcomm and used in many of their SoCs. History Adreno (an anagram of AMD's graphic card brand ''Radeon''), was originally developed by ...

320 * Battery: 4325 mAh (non-removable)

Nexus 10

The Nexus 10, a 10.1-inch tablet manufactured by

, was revealed in late October 2012 by the

Exif Exchangeable image file format (officially Exif, according to JEIDA/JEITA/CIPA specifications) is a standard that specifies formats for images, sound, and ancillary tags used by digital cameras (including smartphones), scanners and other syste ...

data of photos taken by Google executive,

Vic Gundotra Vivek Paul "Vic" Gundotra (born 14 June 1969) is an Indian-born American businessman who served as the Senior Vice President, Social for Google until 24 April 2014. Prior to joining Google, he was a general manager at Microsoft. Career Gundot ...

, along with the leaks of its manual and a comprehensive series of photos. The leaked photos revealed a design similar to the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1, with a 10.1-inch 2560×1600 display, 16 or 32 GB of storage, Android 4.2, and a dual-core 1.7 GHz

Exynos Exynos, formerly Hummingbird (), is a series of ARM-based system-on-chips developed by Samsung Electronics' System LSI division and manufactured by Samsung Foundry. It is a continuation of Samsung's earlier S3C, S5L and S5P line of SoCs. E ...

5 processor. The Nexus 10 was expected to be unveiled officially during a Google press event on October 29, 2012, but the event was postponed due to

Hurricane Sandy Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as ''Superstorm Sandy'') was an extremely destructive and strong Atlantic hurricane, as well as the largest Atlantic hurricane on record as measured by diameter, with tropical-storm-force winds spann ...

. The Nexus 10 would not receive any official updates beyond Android 5.1.1. * Display: 10.1" Corning Gorilla Glass 2 with 2560×1600 pixel resolution * CPU: 1.7 GHz dual-core

Cortex-A15 The ARM Cortex-A15 MPCore is a 32-bit processor core licensed by ARM Holdings implementing the ARMv7-A architecture. It is a multicore processor with out-of-order superscalar pipeline running at up to 2.5 GHz. Overview ARM has claimed th ...

* Chipset:

Samsung Exynos Exynos, formerly Hummingbird (), is a series of ARM-based system-on-chips developed by Samsung Electronics' System LSI division and manufactured by Samsung Foundry. It is a continuation of Samsung's earlier S3C, S5L and S5P line of SoCs. Ex ...

5250 * Storage: 16 or 32 GB * RAM: 2 GB * GPU: Mali-T604 MP4

Nexus 9

The Nexus 9 is an 8.9-inch tablet running Android 5.0 Lollipop, developed in collaboration between Google and HTC. It was first announced on October 15, 2014 along with the Nexus 6 and the Nexus Player. * Display: 8.9" Corning Gorilla Glass 3 with 2048×1536 pixel resolution * CPU: 2.3 GHz dual-core 64-bit Nvidia

Tegra K1 Tegra is a system on a chip (SoC) series developed by Nvidia for mobile devices such as smartphones, personal digital assistants, and mobile Internet devices. The Tegra integrates an ARM architecture central processing unit (CPU), graphics pro ...

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

" * Chipset: Nvidia

* Storage: 16 or 32 GB * RAM: 2 GB * Dual front-facing speakers featuring

BoomSound

Digital media players

Nexus Q

The Nexus Q is a discontinued

digital media player A digital media player (also sometimes known as a streaming device or streaming box) is a type of consumer electronics device designed for the storage, playback, or viewing of digital media content. They are typically designed to be integra ...

that ran Android and integrated with Google Play, to sell at US$299 in the United States. After complaints about a lack of features for the price, the Nexus Q was shelved indefinitely; Google said it needed time to make the product "even better". The Nexus Q was unofficially replaced by the

Chromecast Chromecast is a line of digital media players developed by Google. The devices, designed as small dongles, can play Internet-streamed audio-visual content on a high-definition television or home audio system. The user can control playback w ...

, and further by the Nexus Player. * Storage: 16 GB * RAM: 1 GB

Nexus Player

The Nexus Player is a streaming media player created in collaboration between Google and Asus. It is the first device running

Android TV Android TV is a smart TV operating system based on Android (operating system), Android and developed by Google for television sets, digital media players, set-top boxes, and soundbars. A successor to Google TV (operating system), Google TV, it fe ...

. It was first announced on October 15, 2014 along with the Nexus 6 and the Nexus 9. On May 24, 2016, Google discontinued sales of the Nexus Player. In March 2018, Google confirmed that the Nexus Player would not receive the upcoming version of Android,

Android Pie Android Pie ( codenamed Android P during development), also known as Android 9 (API 28) is the ninth major release and the 16th version of the Android mobile operating system. It was first released as a developer preview on March 7, 2018, and ...

, and that security updates had also ended for the device. * 1.8 GHz quad-core Intel Atom processor * 802.11ac 2x2 (MIMO) *

HDMI High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) is a proprietary audio/video interface for transmitting uncompressed video data and compressed or uncompressed digital audio data from an HDMI-compliant source device, such as a display controlle ...

out * Remote control (with 2

AAA batteries The AAA battery (or triple-A battery) is a standard size of dry cell battery. One or more AAA batteries are commonly used in low-drain portable electronic devices. A zinc–carbon battery in this size is designated by IEC as R03, by ANSI C18. ...

) * Gamepad (Purchased separately)

Philip K. Dick estate claim

Upon the announcement of the first Nexus device, the Nexus One, the estate of

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

author Philip K. Dick claimed that the Nexus One name capitalized on

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...

from Dick's 1968 novel ''

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? ''Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?'' (retroactively retitled ''Blade Runner: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?'' in some later printings) is a dystopian science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick, first published in 1968. Th ...

'' and that the choice of name was a direct reference to the Nexus-6 series of

androids An android is a humanoid robot or other artificial being often made from a flesh-like material. Historically, androids were completely within the domain of science fiction and frequently seen in film and television, but advances in robot techno ...

in the novel.

References

{{Google LLC Android (operating system) Google hardware Line of flagship smartphones Tablet computers