According to a report in International Business Times (IBT), LG may be suspending production of the Nexus 4 to prepare for upcoming smartphones. Speculation on the part of IBT suggests LG may be working with Google on the successor to the Nexus 4, a device it claims could be announced next month at MWC.
Though the Nexus 4 had a rocky start, it seems improbable that Google would kill a phone just a few months after launch. The Nexus 4 has a decent set of specs (with the exception of the missing LTE) and is priced very competitively.
I’m not sure why Nexus 4 supply is so low, but prevailing rumors point the finger at LG. If LG is struggling with Nexus 4 production, I doubt it’s because the manufacturer put the project on the back burner. The Nexus 4 is a high-profile handset for LG and the company would be foolish not to dedicate as much resources as possible to the Nexus 4 manufacturing process.
IBT also claims LG is working on future Nexus devices that could surface next month. We might see new handsets from LG at Mobile World Congress, but I doubt one of those will be a Google-branded Nexus device. If Google has a phone in the works, it would likely hold off on announcing the device until its I/O developer conference, which is slated to be held May 15-17, 2013. That event has been used in the past to announce Nexus devices, including the popular Nexus 7 tablet and the failed Nexus Q device.
[Via IBT]