It looks like Google is going to kill the Nexus brand for its smartphones

Google will stop using the "Nexus" branding it typically applies to the smartphones it builds with third-party manufacturers, according to a new Android Central report.

The shift will reportedly take effect with the two handsets it's expected to launch this fall, which are rumored to have 5- and 5.5-inch displays and come from HTC.

Android Central does not report what those phones will be called, but says Google will use them to emphasize its own branding instead.

Such a move would line up with a July report from Android Police, which detailed images of a phone with a small "G" logo on its back, instead of "Nexus" tag found on previous Google-branded phones. (The site reported images of the 5-inch model without the Google logo earlier this month, but said that that would be there by launch.)

It'd also line up with comments made by Sundar Pichai at Vox's Code Conference this past June. There, the Google CEO noted that the company would be "more opinionated" over the design of future Nexus devices.

 

Google declined a request for comment.

Read the full Android Central report for more details -->