LG has no plans of producing a Nexus 5. The smartphone manufacturer made it official during the unveiling of the vanilla white Nexus 4 on Tuesday.
Kim Won, vice president of LG Mobile in Europe, disclosed in an interview with Dutch website All About Phones that the company recognized the winning strategy behind the successful Nexus 4 but does not see the need to resort to the same strategy.
"We do not have plans of marketing devices like how Samsung has done. It will have no added value for LG without our own skins," Kim replied when asked if the company will release a Google Edition of its flagship smartphone just like how Samsung did.
The South Korean company clarified later on that the statement of Kim was misinterpreted by the press. Through a correspondence with The Verge, LG said that while it is not developing a Nexus 5, it does not mean that it will turn down opportunities to collaborate with Google in the future.
The unnamed senior official of LG further clarified that Kim was referring to the mobile business of LG in general that does not have to rely solely on the Nexus to be competitive and successful.
Kim also disclosed during the interview that LG will be rolling out new Android tablets soon. LG seems to have changed its view about the tablet market since last year when it said that such devices will not be their focus. The company released some hybrid tablets for its consumers in South Korea last October.
The LG executive also took note of the duopoly of Apple and Google and how it is hurting the market. He said LG wants to lessen its dependence on other technology companies. Kim shared that LG will be launching phones using another platform, perhaps handsets using the Firefox OS or another systems since LG does not have plans of creating its own operating system.
Meanwhile, the white Nexus 4 will hit the Hong Kong market on May 29 and roll out to select markets in Asia, Middle East, North America, and Europe the following weeks.
The latest iteration of the Nexus 4 is just a color update giving the back panel and the sides a vanilla white finish while keeping the black glass in front. The smartphone still sports a 4.7-inch display, 8-megapixel camera, a Snapdragon processor, and still does not support LTE.
