Google pulled a giant surprise this week by pushing down the Nexus 4 price tag on Google Play, giving out $100 price off on all variants and in the process signalling the impending Q4 2013 release date of the Nexus 5.

The price drop is the first for the stock Android smartphone since it was rolled out in November 2012, according to reports by Gotta Be Mobile. After the discount, the Nexus 4 8GB edition is now at $200, coming off from its introductory price last year of $300.

The 16GB build now retails for only $250, significantly dipping from last year's $350.

While the price off makes the LG-built Nexus 4 a bit more attractive, the development also signals the more awaited arrival of the Nexus 5, which Android watchers regard as major upgrade in terms of design and capabilities.

Latest rumours suggest of a 1080p phablet-size handset with a screen size of 5.2-inch. It is said that Google has picked LG to reprise its manufacturing role for the 2013 Nexus project. The South Korean company is believed to be using its latest flagship, the LG G2, as the Nexus 5 template.

As such, the vanilla Android device is seen to carry most of the G2 specs - from its Snapdragon quad-core class CPU to the overall body-design and new features like LTE connectivity.

But there will be some tweaks as the Nexus 5 is expected to skip the rear capacitive buttons introduced by LG with the G2. Instead, the Google smartphone will likely retain the glass back cover, though more robust, used in the Nexus 4, blog reports said.

Or the Nexus 5 is essentially a mid-range handset with its affordable price as its main selling point, according to some reports. In this case, the maker would be Google's own Motorola Mobility, which will be using the recently-released Moto X as the base model.

As a Moto X cousin, the Nexus 5 will be flexing modest capabilities that likely will pit it against the budget phones coming off the production lines of Samsung and Nokia and by September this year, the low-cost iPhone 5C that Apple is geared to unleash with the iOS 7-powered iPhone 5S.

The latest Google move of slicing the price of its 2012 signature phone could lead to further discounts and it would be hardly surprising to witness more price cuts as the Nexus 5 debut drumbeats get stronger in the immediate weeks ahead.

Regardless of which firm will build it, the Nexus 5 release date is seen to happen by the first week of October 2013, by which time it will go live in Google Play Store for online ordering but not before a late September introduction.