Rumors have been coming out on Google's Pixel 2 plans and the latest indicate which device manufacturers will be responsible for the 2017 upgrades of the Pure Android flagship. There will be two Pixel makers, reports said, and both were previously involved with the now defunct Nexus line of smartphone and tablet, also from Google.
Reportedly, a bug entry from a leaked LG report revealed that the South Korean device maker is once again getting involved with the Stock Android device project by Google, 9to5Google reported. The internal LG report touched on the subject of "USB PD Compliance Failure" concerning an Android device codenamed "Taimen." The same report carried the bug entry: Android > Partner > External > LGE > Taimen > power.
Notably seen are Taimen and LGE, which stands for LG Electronics. Taimen is said to be a Pure Android device already on the development phase and reports said it will be a supersized phablet that will boast of large display and hybrid functions of a phone and a tablet.
In recent days, Taimen was the subject of rumors that claimed it will be the Pixel XL 2 in lieu of the original prototype called "Muskie." The latter, according to 9to5Google, was cancelled "due to the device not meeting expected battery life and other cost effectiveness goals."
The latest report also indicated Google has already decided on the device makers to take charge of the Pixel 2017 project. LG will assemble the tablet-like Pixel XL 2, which is nothing new as the company previously worked on the Nexus 4, Nexus 5 and Nexus 5X.
And it's HTC again for the regular Pixel 2. Last year, the Taiwan-based device maker won the contract to mass manufacture the original Pixel models.
As for the Pixel 2 design and specs details known so far, rumors have it the handsets will be powered by Qualcomm's updated Snapdragon 835 chip that will be known as SD 836. Or Google will opt for an in-house mobile processing solution as suggested by the tech giant's recent hiring of Manu Galati from Apple. The engineer was responsible for chip development prior to jumping ship and is expected to continue on the same work with focus on Pixel.
In terms of design and form-factor, the best clue on how the Pixel 2 will look, feel and behave is offered so far by concept creator Benjamin Geskin. The artist's latest visualization, pointed to by WCCFTech, strongly suggests Google intends to use the same design language first seen with the Samsung Galaxy S8 and the render Geskin has provided depicted the Pixel 2017 model as virtual clone of the GS8 on release date.