Just this past Tuesday we witnessed this year's fall event from Apple, where they announced their latest generation of iPhones. From the event, the official announcements for the expected iPhone 5S and the rumored iPhone 5C were made. The iPhone 5S was pretty much spot on with what we expected, but the iPhone 5C seemed to have taken an unexpected turn. What was supposed to be the "cheap" iPhone turned out to be not so cheap at all, and because Apple decided not to come out with a cheap iPhone product, we're back at square one. Apple still sells phones at premium prices, and if you want a cheap, new smartphone then you should probably look elsewhere.
But to be fair, Apple executives have always said that they would never release a "cheap" iPhone. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that just because we expected Apple to lower their prices for a phone with polycarbonate housing didn't necessarily mean that we were going to see that happen. But because Apple made that risky decision not to really, truly offer something on the low-end of the spectrum, it's not really a surprise that people have so quickly diverted their attention to one of the only devices we have yet to see release this year: the Google Nexus 5.
Leaks have already started coming out on the Nexus 5, whether it's from unveilings of candy bar Android statues or random pictures found "in the wild". With the Nexus 4 having such a great deal of a flash sale just mere weeks ago with their 8GB model selling for $199 off contract and 16GB model selling for $249, it would seem that the new Nexus 5 is not such a far off dream anymore. The Nexus 4 has since sold out of stock indefinitely, and is officially at an "End of Life" status as of yesterday. All of these context clues lead us to assume that an unveiling of the Nexus 5 will be upon us shortly.
And personally, I happen to think that the recent Apple event is generating more interest in the Nexus 5 than before. After all, now that Apple hasn't given emerging markets a real entry-level device to use iOS on, why not get excited for the Nexus 5? The Nexus line has a proven track record of being sold at a low price both on and off contract. It doesn't seem too far-fetched to get excited about a low cost Nexus 5.
Even though the Nexus line is notorious for being sold for cheap off contract, it definitely has other things going for it as well. For example, the Nexus line of devices are the first to receive updates straight from Google. Nexus devices use stock Android out of the box, which means that these devices have no skin overlays (such as TouchWiz or Sense) or bloatware clogging up the device's memory or performance (of course, not all skins botch up performance, and many customized Android skins are necessary to offer certain device features). Regardless, aside from generally not having the latest and best specs (but still pretty good specs) the Nexus line has typically proven to be well worth the money.
It's not that Apple's event was all bad. I mean, the iPhone 5S is still a decent step up from the iPhone 5. That part is all well and fine, but the biggest thing that many markets around the world had been looking forward to was a cheaper iPhone, both in build and in price. This didn't happen, and since it didn't happen, those markets need to look towards something else that fits the bill to their needs. The device that's most likely to do that? The Nexus 5.
Readers, what are your thoughts? Have you been more interested in news regarding the Nexus 5 since the Apple event? Share your comments with us below!
Images via The Verge, Android Scissor