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Well, guys, the Nexus 6 is here. It looks great. And it’s even coming to all United States carriers. So how much will it cost? Well, if Motorola’s blog post is any indication then off-contract folks won’t be too happy — they’re slapping on a minimum suggested retail price of $650.
[Update]: And yes, that is the base Google Play price, so don’t expect to be able to find it cheaper anywhere else.
That price tag is typical of any high-end flagship phablet in this day and age, but the Nexus line was always the exception to the rule. Nexus phones have traditionally been offered for much cheaper than the specs would have you think, and it made off-contract life much easier for those who preferred going the Nexus route.
Of course, this paves the way to more contract-based or finance-based purchases for folks who can’t buy a Nexus full price and we’re sure carriers will certainly be offering reasonable, affordable paths to getting the phone for anyone who can’t spare more than $600 on a whim. For the rest of you? Well, you have a good couple of weeks to make your mind up (and to fill your wallet up) as the Nexus 6 won’t be dropping until early November at the earliest.
well i guess you can’t have a phablet without a phablet price. Still a relative bargain compared to a Note 4 though.
But I don’t want a phablet!
I want to wait for an official confirmation, but this price is unappealing. I was hoping for around $500
This is official confirmation. It was right there in Motorola’s blog post.
Damn, just read the post. Was hoping the play store price would be different.
$500 is unappealing, are you kidding? For what you get it’s more than worth the price, it’s cheaper than a Note4 or iphone6+.
Yet the Note 4 has a better camera, fingerprint scanner, stylus and a SD Card slot. NOTE 4 Actually deserves the $699 price tag.
I thought Google would offer a great deal, but this isn’t it.
And I-R Blaster.
Was hoping for I-R support in LOLIPOP/NEXUS,maybe next year………….
With a 64GB Option,this is still a competitive option to the NOTE4,especially for those who have no need for a stylus.
Sounds in-line with the £450 UK price that leaked a few days ago. Still way cheaper than certain other phablets that just came out.
Edit – 16GB Confirmed at £407, even better!
Well moto’s price but what about play store price.
“Nexus 6 will be available for pre-order through the Google Play Store in late October starting at $649.”
From Motorola’s blog. That’s Google Play pricing, bud.
O_O $64? I’ll take 3 xD!
I got my edit in before you could reply. :P
Straight from the Motorola Blog:
“Nexus 6 will be available for pre-order through the Google Play Store in late October starting at $649.”
good question….*tips fedora*
It’s steep but if you look a the specs and compatibility with all major US carriers it about right. Also most other flagship phones are same price. Of course it would be nice to have it cheaper since Google does have access to crazy amount of marketing information on billions of people.
yet another misstep by motorola – the original launch of the motorola xoom tablet with a price tag of $599 comes to mind.
That would be very disappointing.Oh well I guess I’ll have to get it from tmobile
The main question I have is, will the lower contract priced phones get direct updates through Google? or will I have to wait for the carrier?
I’d like to know the same.
yes, they will. Remember when T-Mobile sold the Nexus5, it got updates the same time as the Google Play Store Nexus 5
But the Verizon GNex did not.
the answer is yes.
When I got an invite last week, I was conflicted between onePlus one and potential Nexus 6. I’m glad I just got the oneplus one instead. Awesome battery life, decent camera.
Nexus 6 is too expensive for me. I’m not sure how good the battery life is going to be with larger QHD screen and similar battery size compared to oneplusone.
For that price it better have a knockout camera.
13MP and Motorola? Yeah, it’s probably the same camera from the Moto X+1 which isn’t that great.
I don’t know why it’s so hard to put good camera on these phones
They had to cut corners somewhere to reach the $650 price tag…..
This is not a cut corner price phone so that excuse doesn’t fly
Clearly you missed the sarcasm…..
The camera will be good because of cpu and gpu has better post processing like the iphones. The lens is good it was just the OS and CPU that made he photos not as good as it should be. Now with android Lollipop and the SD 805 pictures should be wonderful plus is has OIS.
If the sensor sucks, it doesn’t matter how much software they throw at it, the pictures will not be that great. The only ray of hope would be for RAW support and to touch up your photos in post-processing software.
We had a time where every phone had the same Sony censor I.e iPhone and Galaxy 3 and nexus 4.then the iPhone 5 and nexus 5. The same Sony f2.2 win angle lens. Why did some iPhone 5 photos come out better…. The cpu and gpu handled the image quality better. Now with Android L and newer cpu from the new snap dragon line up we will see crazy improved optics
Go check the off contract price for a Note 4 or Iphone 6+. Yea. This is a good deal.
Note 4 – Off Contract from Verizon – $699
The Note has comparable specs and adds features like a digitizer, fingerprint scanner, better camera, SD card support…
So how exactly is $650 a good deal? Looks to be about regular market price to me.
Because with that Verizon phone you’re getting has Carrier bloat, skinned Android, useless features that you only want to say you have, (fingerprint scanner, S-pen, heart rate monitor, etc) and carrier- mandated updates. I have a Note 3 now, and the Note 2 before it, and as cool as the S-pen can be sometimes, there’s no real NEED for it. Stop saying better camera, because you haven’t seen side by side comparison shots. And I have great service where I am, so all my media is in the cloud. not to mention the fact that at $650.00 it’s still CHEAPER than a $750 T-Mobile branded Note 4 (the carrier I’m with) or $800 carrier free version.
The things that matter to you aren’t necessarily the things that matter to other people. Saying you don’t like the extra features doesn’t make them disappear or make the product cheaper.
All I’m saying is that there are other comparable devices on the market at around the same price. Whereas with the Nexus4 and 5, they were both SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper than the competition.
THEY were “deals”. Comparatively, the Nexus6 isn’t.
Perhaps this is what they meant when they initially said the Nexus line was going away, Google is no longer subsidizing the cost. I am glad we have some other low cost options now, the Moto G, Moto X, and OnePlus are all good but this is still a sad day.
The whole subsidizing the cost thing was only stated with the Nexus 4, and wasn’t an initial objective of the Nexus program. We’ve gotten spoiled in thinking that Google OWES us a cheap phone, when in all honesty, this is still a good deal compared to the $800+ phones of this size off-contract.
The Nexus 5 was more expensive going through Tmo then the play store so I assume that was subsidized as well but I could be wrong. And I know they don’t owe it to us but it still seems like the end of an era. Maybe I’m just so used to the non-phablet market pricing though.
Its not so much that its a Phablet that caused the price to be so much higher, but check the specs. A QHD panel, (albeit is almost 6 inches), a Snapdragon 805, 3 gigs of RAM, 13 MP camera, etc. Nexus never had those bleeding edge specs like that, and its costs to source those parts. Everyone always said that the Nexus was a little behind spec-wise from the latest flagships of that year, well this is what happens. We cant have it both ways.
The Nexus 5 performs awesome still, just wish the camera performed better and it had better battery. Glad they gave it more battery but I’m pretty sure the bulk of that price is for the large AMOLED screen, they just aren’t cheap to make yet.
Oh yea the performance was fine, but you have the spec sheet beaters that were upset that they didn’t have the best processor, (Gnex, N4) best camera (GNex, N4, N5) or best battery life (GNex). I personally thought every Nexus I’ve owned (all from GNex up) were great phones, but some ppl are never satisfied.
~$699 for a Note4 off contract from Verizon that has comparable specs all around and adds fingerprint scanner, digitizer, better camera.
This is the first Nexus device that doesn’t look like a clear “deal”. Instead it looks priced to the market. And that’s a shame.
Exactly! Note 4 is a better choice anyday!
I would even wait for the next Galaxy, Xperia or LG instead of this overpriced google phone.
How? They didn’t start the low-priced model until the Nexus 4, which was the 4th Nexus, and 6th Google phone (counting the G1 and MyTouch 4G). Its a great deal considering the fact that you’ll get a Verizon phone with Big Red bloat, on top of TouchWiz, and you’ll still have to wait on updates from Big Red. You don’t know how the camera will stand up until actual tests come out, and i doubt you actually use the fingerprint scanner which is finicky at best. (I’ve tested it multiple time at multiple different BB locations).
Personally, I would never buy a Note4. I’m just stating facts that are relevant to market pricing. (plus, you could just root and install the google now launcher to get rid of verizon bloat and touchwiz if you wanted).
They didn’t have to worry about pricing with the Nexus phones before the 4 because they were still heavily invested in the carrier subsidy model. But that’s not the case anymore. Price matters now.
Both the 4 and 5 were significantly cheaper than comparable competitors on the market at the time of their release. And that simply isn’t the case with the 6.
They also weren’t bleeding edge tech. They both had some compromises in terms of hardware because Google was taking a hit on each handset.
What compromises?
GNex had an OMAP processor which was far from the best SOC at the time, and had horrible battery life because of it.
Nexus 4 had no LTE when it debuted.
GNex, Nexus 4, and Nexus 5 all had less than stellar cameras.
They weren’t major deal breakers, but all prior Nexus phones came with some trade offs that you had to give up in order to achieve a lower price point.
No they weren’t. You could have bought the Nexus 1, Nexus S, and GNex all from Google, and they weren’t subsidized to a lower price. The Nexus One was $529 if you bought it directly from Google, and considering that, this is a great deal.
You COULD have, but most people didn’t. That’s the difference.
Since the Nexus 4, a LOT more consumers are shifting away from subsidies, and Moto is even supporting that trend with phones like the MotoG and E.
The Nexus 6 has a lot going for it. Price isn’t one of those things.
That has absolutely nothing to do with your last argument.
It has everything to do with my last argument.
The only thing I’m arguing is against the designation of the price as a “deal”.
When people rely on phone subsidies from their carrier, they don’t care about a deal. If they have to buy it full price, they definitely do.
It started with the galaxy nexus
The Gnex was $399 of contract when it originally was released. The base Nexus 4 (8 GB) was $299.
I’m aware of that $399 is a low cost phone especially for the year it was released.
I suppose. I could dig for prices for the flagships of that year, but I honestly dont feel like it.
Actually no it didn’t. The retail price at launch for the Verizon Galaxy Nexus off contract was $649. Four months later they started selling it on the Playstore for $400, but again that’s 4 months after launch. Most phones price drops significantly after 4 months.
http://m.androidcentral.com/verizon-galaxy-nexus-retail-price-649
Basically it is a Stock Android Note 4 without MicroSD + Stylus and many other features.
For $650 it should come with 64gbs considering the OPO is almost the same thing with slightly worse specs, a lower res screen that’s .5″ less, although 5.5″ is a much better size than 6″ imo. And the 64gb OPO is $350. That’s almost half the price of the supposed Nexus 6.
Seems like a good deal to me.
OnePlus will go live any day now w/pre-orders,luring the sticker-shocked Nexus crowd………..
Yeap.. got my invite for no reason yesterday….
Ya gonna buy the 1+,or,go for something else?
Glad to have one myself.
Yeah probably a lot of happy folks at OnePlus today.
I have an OPO and N5 myself. Apart from battery I truly do prefer my N5. I was really hoping to get myself an N6 for a good year but I can’t spend that much on it. This really sucks D:
Guess I’ll be rocking my Nexus 5 for another year. Or till the price at least comes down in a few months.
NEXUS 5 32GB Black model is now out-of-stock……..
Might wanna grab a Red or White version while supplies last.
Compared to other phones of that size, it is actually lower priced. Especially since it has high end specs rather than middle of the road. If you want a lower priced phone, you get a moto x. (which is essentially a nexus 5-2014). It has a smaller screen, 801 cpu, smaller battery, and smaller price. I think that’s what google/Motorola was going for.
And if that’s too much, Moto G. And if that’s too much, Moto E. All confirmed for Lollipop. It’s good to have choices. Other manufacturers presumably will also have something to say as well. But Moto seems to be doing a great job of competing on features at many different price points.
Agree with you completely but the TAX everyone forgets the TAX!!!
In the dirty jerz it puts it at a cool $700!
The all new Google Nexus 6 by Motorola. Too big. Too expensive.
For you.
Going by the current stats on the Phandroid poll, there are at least 544 others who agree and another 398 who are on the fence….
I’m in the “too big” camp (but don’t have a problem with the price). I don’t have a problem with Google getting into the phablet market, but I just wish they’d have also released an updated N5 alongside this monster.
I guess I’m sticking with the N5 for the time being.
And Phandroid represents about 1/10 of a percent of the smartphone market. And about 0 percent of the average smartphone buyer. Polls on this cite have absolutely no bearing on reality.
And you know these stats to be true, how? Or are you simply making up percentages like nearly everyone else on the internet does?
Basic reading and math skills. I can teach you sometime if you’d like.
You need more than basic reading and math skills to know how many Android users actually read and/or participate in Phandroid polls. Clearly you don’t have any definitive proof, only talking out Uranus.
Well, Uranus is actually a planet, not a body part. Don’t worry, we can get you teachers for astronomy and anatomy along with your math and reading lessons.
Aww. Figured my “Uranus” point would get you to show me your fake smarts again. It worked perfectly. Congratulations!
Should have taken a page out of oneplus’ book. Premium materials, competitive price. I know the customer service blows, but that ain’t worth an extra $300.
They are really going to bomb sales wise and it’s unfortunate
They could end up selling more than usual due to carrier availability. Still cheaper than other phablets.
That’s true. They tapped into more providers. I can’t shake off this feeling that they’ll start off well and end up like Apple has. I really hope they don’t make it $650 or at least have a 1080p 5-5.4″ version for $450 or $500. I can’t justify paying more than $450 for it.
And Google is notorious for crappy customer service. I’d rather pay $400 and have a reliable phone than pay an extra $250 for a silly 2k screen and some added features. This really sucks though. Google has always been my favorite oem :(
At first I thought you were comparing Oneplus customer service, which is just as bad.
Google hasn’t made any phone or tablet of their branding.
I didn’t mean OEM, I meant Google was my favorite company to purchase from because of the phones they had. Obviously LG was the OEM for the N5 though.
“Premium materials, competitve price” … and you have to beg for the chance to buy one. No thanks.
I need a OnePlus invite!!!! Anybody have one that you can send to me? Comment back and i’ll set email
So expensive.
looks like the ONE dodges another bullet.
At least there will be less annoying kids in the XDA forums for this Nexus.
Fudge… And here I was expecting some $400 price tag.
Hmm… Oh well…
It’s not made by LG anymore. What did you expect?
$650 is a reasonable price for a handset of this caliber, and since it’s being made by a company that knows what they’re doing now, there’s no need to charge bargain-basement prices for it anymore.
Of this caliber? LG made pretty quality devices. I’m not a fan of their UI but Motorola sells some phones like the Moto G and E for very very cheap costs. I have a feeling this is their attempt at a stock phablet version of the Moto X 2014. Either way I’m not paying $650 for it lol.
This is a high-end smartphone, with high-end specs. $650 is pretty much the low end of the pricing spectrum for a phone like this.
As for LG, I’ve owned two devices of theirs, and both have been complete disasters. The artificially low prices that their Nexus devices were going for (because Google was subsidizing them) is the only thing that could *almost* get me to consider them again… but not quite. Motorola makes *far* more reliable hardware.
my nexus 4 has similar specs than a current Iphone and well i did pay a lot less, i was waiting for another $350-$400 phone but at $650 no thanks i will wait a little to have the galaxy on my carrier plan for $700, if they decrease the prize to the range i want i will be buying 2
I’m fortunate in that I have an upgrade on my line ready to go – so I am considering getting this. My only concern is if it will receive the updates at the same time as the non-carrier version. Does anyone have any ideas?
Depends on the carrier. Most likely not right away, but quickly. Basing off of past updating of devices, T-Mobile tends to upgrade the fastest but only by a little bit, with Sprint and ATT behind. Verizon on the other hand is notorious for taking forever to update some phones. Who knows?
Yeah. I’ll guess it’s a risk when purchasing though carriers. I have AT&T. Let’s see how it goes.
I’m sure they’ll update it quickly. ATT is pretty fast with a lot of updates!
hopefully. can’t wait to pick this one up!
The early Nexus phones were all about Google trying to build market share. Provide a cheap phone, basic specs, stock OS, no frills, disposable. Price it to put in as many hands as you can and write off the loss as a marketing expense.
Android isn’t “the other guy” anymore. Google no longer has to pay to win over customers. No more writing off losses, no more cheap Nexus. Now you want to show off capability and start tapping the Enterprise market, and for that you want a high end device.
You nailed it.
Well said and still cheaper than the 16gb iPhone 6 plus by $100. I’d say the price isn’t out of line.
No the early nexus phones like the nexus one were priced at a premium the trend of a low cost nexus started with the galaxy nexus the nexus 6 goes back to the original nexus days of pretty much top of the line everything for a high end price.
Actually, the Nexus 4 was the first low cost Nexus smartphone. The Galaxy Nexus price dropped after launch, but it was priced higher at launch. Smae with the Nexus 7.
It launched at $399 that was low cost even by today’s standards back then it was a fantastic deal.
No it didn’t. Retail price was $650 at launch in December at Verizon. They even mentioned that it was a bit cheaper than importing the quad band version. In April, four months later it launched on the Google Playstore for $400. There’s a link to an article on Android Central in these comments I posted earlier that proves it. Most any phones have a significant price drop after four months. But the Nexus 4 was the fist Nexus smartphone to launch around $400 AT LAUNCH, not four months after.
Boy are you way off. The early Nexus phones had absolutely nothing to do with building market share. They were always meant as reference devices for developers. Unless you think all smartphone users are aspiring developers then your statement is just waaaaaayyyyy off base.
$650 is way too much. I would never pay that much for a phone. Oh well, I guess I’ll continue using my N5 or OPO :(. Really sucks too because Google has always been my favorite phone provider.
If ya want top specs, ya gotta pay top price. I hear the new Moto X is pretty nice.
The new moto x has too small of a battery and they improved on the specs I don’t want more than the ones I do haha. I’ll just switch to my opo once it gets lollipop. Kind of upsetting though. The Nexus lineup has been a longtime favorite of mine
Y’all aren’t getting the point the nexus 6 is their flagship phone the nexus 5 is now their regular affordable phone. The same goes for the nexus 9 and nexus 7.
And the price is justify, I mean those specs are crazy good.
Look! It’s the same price the Galaxy Nexus was when it launched and everybody is freaking out now… You guys are funny.
“That price tag is typical of any high-end flagship phablet in this day and age, but the Nexus line was always the exception to the rule. Nexus phones have traditionally been offered for much cheaper than the specs would have you think, and it made off-contract life much easier for those who preferred going the Nexus route.”
This trend didn’t start until the Nexus 7 & Nexus 4. The Nexus 1, Nexus S, Galaxy Nexus all were typically priced for phones in their class. I would expect an Android centric blog to know that.
plus, the gnex was $300 ON contract too because that’s when LTE first rolled out on verizon, and all of their LTE phones were 300. even my Rezound was 300 bucks lol
My crappy thunderbolt was 300. 7 months with that phone and I jumped ship to T-mobile with a galaxy s II. After that I was nexus all the way. Even the 6, it will be mine.
People are complain about the price range… let’s take a look at the competition at the same screen/spec range: Nexus6 = 649, Note4 = 800 + bloatware, iPhony 6+ = 950 + iOS meh… Nexus6 is better phone, better priced and has better software.
The reason the Nexus line became cheaper was to show how ridiculous it is for a device that costs $180-$220 to produce, costs more than 2x that at retail. Even at $350 the nexus 5 was overpriced. Just because they are matching everyone else, doesn’t mean the prices aren’t all insane, or that there isn’t clearly a 100% lack of any competition for phone pricing in the market.
So….Oneplus just became my favorite company. Next year’s OPO or Project Ara phone here I come!
Like I said on a previous post, this phone isn’t going to do well at all. Doesn’t even look like lollipop brings anything new to the take besides looking better.
Looking better is a big deal.
And it does bring ART, Project Volta, and some nifty new small features. Still a bigger change than iOS 7 to iOS 8.
Keep your nexus 5 if the nexus6 is to big the n5 is still a good phone folks. Damn google got a entry level phone and a top tier phone pick one. Why make another nexus 5 like phone when android phones are already over powered and not getting pushed to where your cpu and gpu dictates your experience. Nexus 5 can keep up for atleast another year and by then another smaller nexus will arrive. Big handed people like myself that stay away from google previous phone now get a chance to experience a stock android phone. Haven’t we suffered long enough . Thanks Samsung without you we would still be using 4 inch screens. Now I can put these big hands to use
My n5 still feels like a new phone. With lollipop I think it will perform like a champ for at least another year at which point we will have this discussion again with the next set of nexus products.
They are so many positive features on the Nexus 6 that the Nexus 5 never has like.
1. First Nexus ever made Water resistant
2. Snapdragon 805
3. 3Gb Ram
4. Turbo charger gives up to 6 hours of power in 15 minutes this is crazy wow.
5. Qi wireless charging built-in
6. More sensors than the Nexus 5 (Accelerometer, Gyro, Magnetometer, Prox, Ambient Light Sensor, Haptics, Hall effect, Barometer)
7. Better camera : .
13 MP IMX 214 Image Sensor
f / 2.0 aperture
Optical Image Stabilization
Ring flash with dual LEDs
4K UHD video capture
2160p (4K) UHD, 1080p HD and 720p HD video capture modes (30fps)
4X digital zoom HDR+
Panorama, PhotoSphere and Lens Blur
Well aspect a price bump and bigger screen or keep your old phone. All the complaining won’t produce a smaller nexus. Numbers say big phones sell less competition. How many 5 inch phones is it compared to phablets. Makes since business wise to do what they did
As much as I dislike OnePlus One and their strategy, as of today, it just keeps pulling me in, just keeps pulling me in…..$650?…ridiculous. Or shall I say an Xperia Z3 perhaps?…umm!!!
It should have topped out at $550, considering the Moto X is $399. That should be enough to cover the added wireless charging, larger battery, SD 805, and display. The first two components mentioned are not that expensive. Heck, it could have started at $499 considering Nexus products usually cost a lot less than similar products by reducing profit margins.
The Moto X is 499 … Consider devices on the same spec range. Note 4 is 800, iPhony 6+ is 950… $650 is a pretty good price for a device with Nexus 6 specs, hardware quality and software experience.
The price is not as good compared to other devices as you say. Here’s why: 32Gb Nexus 6 $649, 32 Gb Note 4 $749, 64Gb iPhone 6 Plus $849 (32Gb I assume would be $799. The Nexus 6 is only $100 cheaper than the Note 4, but the Note 4 has the S-Pen, heart rate monitor, and is more fully featured, so basically the Nexus 6 is the same value as Note 4. What this means is Google is now playing the same game as regular manufacturers. Nexus devices before were around $300 cheaper than similar phones. Nexus 5=$350, GS4 around $650. Now the Nexus 6 offers similar value as other phones in terms of specs/features against price as I have shown with the Note 4 example. The iPhone 6 Plus price is just criminal.
Sorry my little violin is broken
If there was a wifi only version of this n6 and price point was under $400 I would get one as a replacement for my n7. As I travel a lot and my n7 has been invaluable for travel, I think a n6 would be great. But I’m not spending $600 for a toy that I will more than likely replace within 2-3 years. I’m not even considering n9. Just not portable enough. I’ll end up never using it during travel.
If you keep it for 2-3 year you would get your moneys worth out of it.It’s people like me that buy a new phone every year lose money
They are so many positive features on the Nexus 6 that the Nexus 5 never has like.
1. First Nexus ever made Water resistant
2. Snapdragon 805
3. 3Gb Ram
4. Turbo charger gives up to 6 hours of power in 15 minutes this is crazy wow.
5. Qi wireless charging built-in
6. More sensors than the Nexus 5 (Accelerometer, Gyro, Magnetometer, Prox, Ambient Light Sensor, Haptics, Hall effect, Barometer)
7. Better camera :
13 MP IMX 214 Image Sensor
f / 2.0 aperture
Optical Image Stabilization
Ring flash with dual LEDs
4K UHD video capture
2160p (4K) UHD, 1080p HD and 720p HD video capture modes (30fps)
4X digital zoom HDR+
Panorama, PhotoSphere and Lens Blur
Nexus 5 has Qi wireless charging built-in in addition to 4X digital zoom HDR+, Panorama, PhotoSphere and Lens Blur
The Moto-X (2014)’s camera isn’t considered top tier compared to the Note 4, S5, Iphone6+, G3 is it? So I’m hoping we find out whether the Nexus 6 did or did not use the same module.