Google unveiled the new Nexus 6 on Wednesday, along with two other Nexus-brand devices, in an apparent bid to compete with Apple's iPhone 6 for the high-end electronics consumer market, reports the Wall Street Journal.
Google's Nexus 6 smartphone, Nexus 9 tablet, and Nexus Player set-top box are priced along the same lines as Apple's similar devices. Alistair Barr of WSJ writes that this pricing trend is "a departure for Google, which in the past has priced new models significantly less than Apple products."
Barr adds that unlike Apple, however, "Google also licenses its operating system to other phone makers. With the new releases, Google is trying both to compete more with Apple at the premium end of the mobile-device market and help partners churn out cheap handsets for developing markets."
Nieva and Cheng of CNET writes that news of the Nexus devices arrive "as Google tries to take more control of Android, the most widely-used operating system in the world for smartphones and tablets, with 80 percent market share."
The Nexus 6 is a bit larger than Apple's iPhone 6 as well as Samsung's Galaxy Note 4. The device stands at 6.27 inches tall, 3.27 inches wide, and 0.4 inches thick. It has a 5.96-inch display with 1440p resolution and 493ppi. It carries a quad-core 2.7GHz processor which will be running the latest mobile OS from Google, namely Android 5.0 "Lollipop".
Lisa Eadicicco of Business Insider says the Nexus 6 "is going to look gigantic compared to your average smartphone" and will be available for pre-ordering in late October "through all five major carriers - including Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and US Cellular."
"Google's new Nexus phone looks almost identical to the new Moto X device that Motorola introduced last month. Judging by the photos on Google's Nexus page, it looks like the Nexus 6 will feature extremely thin side bezels," Eadicicco adds.