Google May Drop Nexus Brand in Favor of Play Edition in 2015

Google has accumulated a fair amount of street cred with its Nexus line of mobile devices, some of which are best-in-class gadgets. Take for example the Nexus 7, still one of our favorite 7-inch Android tablets and arguably the best choice among a growing field of competitors. The Nexus brand certainly carriers a positive connotation, though the Nexus brand may not be long for this world nonetheless.

Twitter user Eldar Murtazin says that Google will retire the Nexus brand in 2015 and replace it with Play Edition devices.

"Nexus line by Google is over in 2015 ;) Yes - this line will be replaced by Play Edition (current name, it will be rebranded)," Murtazin posted earlier today.

Nexus 7 Back

It gets worse if you're a diehard Nexus fan. The way Murtazin words his tweet seems to suggest that Google will stop making devices of its own and simply attach "Play Edition" to other manufacturers' gadgets, with stock Android of course. This was clarified in a followup discussion on his Twitter account.

Going that route wouldn't be the end of the world (though it would definitely be disappointing). After all, Google doesn't actually build its Nexus devices anyway -- companies like LG and Asus do, based on Google's specifications. If Murtazin's info turns out to be true -- and he has been in the past -- Google will work with makers of the most popular devices to offer a Play Edition model without all the software fluff.