Who will make future Pixels?

[Mike Dee]

Do you think Google stick with same partner for each Pixel release or will they jump around like they did with Nexus from year to year or model to model?

 

[hallux]

Unless there is a long-term contract for x-number of generations of device, Google will go with whoever offers the best product at a competitive price. That's just how business works when you're not making something yourself.

 

[Aquila]

The first 3 years are apparently HTC, after that it's anyone's guess but I'd expect them to leave OEM's entirely and use Quanta or another ODM that just creates high quality whitelabel products.

 

[Jeremy8000]

HTC was a good fit as it is a quality OEM and the partnership was good for HTC who has been stumbling as of late, but I suspect that as long as Google "partners up" it will bounce around to avoid showing prejudice towards any one in particular.

That said, I'm hopeful that Google is aiming to get away from using HTC, Moto, LG, etc for their manufacturing and directly contracts with someone like Foxconn or Flex Ltd who will be able to truly build a Google design phone from the ground up and have the capability of better scaling to demand (which could be a conflict for a contracted competitor, if boosting Pixel production would hinder their own), which if they ever get around to innovating their own processor (which, in turn, would empower them to guarantee more than two years of OS updates - something they cannot do currently as they are at the whim of Qualcomm's option to ensure support or not) would be a logical decision.