Google Delays Motorola X-Phone Release Date for August 2013: Will Nexus 5 Get Key Lime Pie First?
The highly-speculated Google X-Phone, bearing the Motorola brand, will likely skip out the Google I/O Developers Conference scheduled on late May, new reports said.
Pointing to unnamed sources, Phone Arena said in a report that the rumoured X-Phone will not hit store shelves worldwide until later this year. The earliest that the Android handset will begin its rollout is August.
The same report, however, did not rule out the likelihood of a Q4 2013 release, which will pit with the normal product cycles from Apple and Nokia.
New editions of the iPhone and the Lumia are expected from the two companies during the holiday quarter this year, making for an interesting gadget tussle in the closing months of 2013.
The X-Phone pushback will also lineup the first smartphone collaboration between Google and Motorola against the mobile phone biggies by the second half of 2013, which expectedly will be led by the Galaxy S4 and the Galaxy Note 3, both coming from Samsung.
The Samsung phablet is geared for an early September release, numerous reports said, while the GS4 is several months old by then and should have gathered formidable steam for rivals like the X-Phone must deal with.
Despite the delayed release date, Android watchers remain excited on the prospect of getting the first Motorola handset that bears Google's engineering prowess.
The main emphasis of the anticipation is the thought of owning a device outside of the Nexus circle that showcases the raw power of Android vanilla.
Earlier reports have suggested that the Motorola X-Phone will serve as the introductory vessel of Key Lime Pie, which experts believe will crash the global tech scene by May using Google's annual gathering of developers.
However, with a release date revision looming for the X-Phone, the question now begs: Will the rumoured Nexus 5 get a taste of the much-awaited Key Lime Pie?
Dubbed as the original Google signature phone, the Nexus 5 is believed to be uncaged right after the I/O party with the Taiwan-based HTC, which recently unleashed the HTC One, picking up LG's manufacturing duties.
No confirmation yet on the definite specs for both the Motorola X-Phone and the Nexus 5, but many experts seemed convinced that Google will apply the same business model it used in offering the Nexus devices in 2012.
The Internet giant is expected to deploy topnotch components with the two smartphones but will sell them at affordable price tags. The object is to lure more traffic on Google web services using the X-Phone and the Nexus 5.