ASUS working on a new Nexus? Not so fast

In a recent interview, Trusted Reviews spoke with ASUS’ Chairman Jonney Shih to talk a little bit about where Asus is heading. One of the questions brought up by the publication was if ASUS would “work on another Nexus device with Google?” Quite a few publications out there are reporting on the Chairman’s answer to the question as a sort of unofficial yes. But not so fast.

One of the biggest pieces of “evidence” that a Nexus 7 (3rd gen) might be in the works has to do with Shih’s statement that they have a number of projects that they are working on with Google. “Actually, we have a lot of projects ongoing. “Please just stay tuned, you know, stay tuned.”  He continues by talking about how the first two Nexus tablets made a lot of sense for Google and for ASUS.

“So for the [first-generation] Nexus, I think that both parties feel that this will be an exciting product, with this kind of…price and this kind of functionality and quality.” “Even [the second-generation Nexus 7], we moved to the Full HD screen, and we still believe in this kind of beauty. It still makes sense.” “The next one, it takes a lot of discussion”. If that’s all that was said, we would think there’s a pretty good chance that ASUS is hinting at active discussion and plans for a new Nexus tablet. But that’s only if you cut out what he says immediately after:

The next one, it takes a lot of discussion. And since, not that promising. So then we crawl around other kinds of products. I think it’s not… it’s more like the iPad, also facing decline. I think the same situation, frankly speaking”.

Looking at the entirety of his statement, we reach an opposite conclusion than many other publications did. The way we read it, the Chairman suggests that if they could do something that could really wow consumers, they might consider another tablet with Google, but they don’t see this happening. As it stands, the tablet market is seeing decline and there’s less of an opening then there was with the 1st and 2nd gen Nexus 7. You can watch the video with his full statement, here.

But what about these “projects with Google” that ASUS mentions? Keep in mind that ASUS has been working with Google on a variety of projects, including the Nexus Player, Chromebooks, and more. This is likely just Shih talking about their long history of working together. Also, companies tend to take a “neither confirm or deny stance” to any of these types of questions, just to cover their bases.

Of course, we could be wrong (and would be more than okay with that). Early discussions for an ASUS-made Nexus tablet could be in works, but regardless – we wouldn’t get too excited about the prospect of a Nexus 7 (2016) just yet. With Google going in-house for its next tablet, the Pixel C, the days of Nexus tablets may be over, at least for now.

What do you think, is ASUS’ Chairman cryptically ‘confirming’ that it is actually discussing a new tablet with Google, or do his words simply suggest they are open to the idea potentially, but have nothing concrete planned? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.