Google Is Unveiling ‘New Treats’

Good things are coming this month, and I don’t just mean our Disrupt San Francisco event next week. Google just pulled the trigger on invites to a press event later this month which could see it unveil its next Nexus device, among other things.

The company is inviting media to “a morning conversation about some new treats from Google” on September 29th.

Google Is Unveiling ‘New Treats’

Google isn’t always predictable, as its recent decision to split its divisions under ‘Alphabet’ showed, but speculation surrounding new Google hardware has been palpable. CNET earlier this month said a Nexus launch was planned for the 29th, and there’s been speculation that Google has tapped both LG and Huawei to build different sized phones under its Nexus brand. Additionally, the company announced the name of its next version of Android…Marshmallow.

The Nexus brand has proved popular in the past because it runs with a pure form of Android and is optimized for Google’s mobile software, while devices are also usually fairly inexpensive, but Google doesn’t manufacture the phones itself.

LG previously created the Nexus 4 and Nexus 5 phones, but Huawei — a growing force in the global smartphone race — hasn’t ever worked on the project. It’s speculated that LG is working on a regular sized smartphone, with Huawei contracted to develop a larger handset.

If true, that would be an interesting development that fits with trends in the market. Both Samsung — Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge Plus — and Apple — iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus — have released ‘little’ and ‘large’ devices to suit different tastes, and it seems like a strategy that others are embracing too.

That might not be all, however, since Google has been linked with a new version of Chromecast, its media streaming dongle. 9to5Google this week reported that Chromecast 2.0 will land later this month with a number of improvements such as faster WiFi connectivity, faster playing, multi-room support and improved audio feedback.

It’s worth noting that this will be the first major event with Sundar Pichai as the CEO of Google. Make no mistake, the invite comes from that entity and not Alphabet for a reason. It’s important for Pichai to step in and discuss how all of the units at the company, including Android, are being developed together, in a streamlined way. In the past, it was very clear which teams at Google worked on what, from a design and a functionality standpoint. Under Pichai’s watch, that’s changing.