Google Nexus 7 release date, specs rumors: Huawei rejected Google on Pixels; will Nexus 7 be cancelled?

Older generation Google Nexus devicesGoogle

As the year slowly draws to a close, majority of the flagship products from major tech manufacturers have already been released. However, there still seems to be no word on when Google will be releasing their highly anticipated new tablet flagship, the Google Nexus 7. There were reports that claimed the device will likely be renamed with the company's new "Pixel" branding, but new reports seemed to point to the device not coming out at all due to Google's alleged fallout with handset manufacturer, Huawei.

There were previous rumors which revealed that Huawei has apparently turned down Google when they offered them the chance to build their latest Pixel smartphone devices. Now, the company's vice president for consumer business group, Colin Giles, has confirmed that they did in fact turn down Google after they revealed that they only wanted their Pixel branding on the device. This was apparently unacceptable by the company as they also needed to promote their own brand to the international market as well.

The upcoming new Nexus 7 tablet was previously rumored to be built by Huawei, but given their apparent fallout with Google, it might be possible that Google will be turning to another manufacturer to build their next flagship tablet. Huawei was the most likely candidate for the job due to their success with the previous generation Nexus 6P. There were even rumor reports which claimed that the next generation Nexus 7 will essentially be a large display version of the Nexus 6P as it will likely be sporting the same relative internals.

According to reports, Google will likely be turning to HTC this time around as the company is already the one building their new Pixel smartphones anyway. Unlike Huawei, HTC was apparently more open to working with Google, despite not being able place their own branding on the devices that they are building.

"HTC is excited to work with Google to create the new Pixel smartphones. We're proud that when Google needed an industry-leading partner for the Pixel, HTC was the clear answer," an HTC spokesperson mentioned in an interview.