Nexus Marlin and Sailfish get Google Pixel label

The Nexus Marlin and Nexus Sailfish are two upcoming HTC/Google partnership devices that would proudly continue Google’s tradition and line, but we’ve had some suspicions about the line. First, there’s the idea that Marlin and Sailfish would be rebranded at Verizon when they arrived — which made some think that Verizon was the culprit behind changing the device names and that the search engine giant should stand up to Big Red. What we’re now discovering, though, is that the Nexus Marlin and Sailfish will have a different label when they arrive to market.

What is that label? Google Pixel. That’s right: Google is aligning these phones in name with the company’s Pixel-C tablet by giving them the “Pixel” name. According to the source, the 5-inch Nexus Sailfish will be called “Pixel,” while the 5.5-inch Nexus Marlin will be renamed “Pixel XL.” Both will have Google branding that we’ve seen in photos courtesy of Android Police, so the company’s decision to put its own branding on the devices instead of “Nexus” was an indicator all along that these HTC-made devices wouldn’t bear the “NEXUS” label. Of course, hindsight is always 20/20.

“Pixel” and “Pixel XL” just sound like ridiculous names to replace the “Nexus” branding. After all, “Nexus” is a term that refers to a source of a revolution, the origin, the start of a movement, the source of what’s happening. Google always said that it wanted to be the source to dictate what Android should be (since it owns the mobile OS). With Pixel and Pixel XL, however, few tech enthusiasts have little confidence in a line with that name. After all, what is a “pixel”? Pixel sounds worse than “Pebble,” the name of a company and its smartwatches. Pebble just doesn’t give much of a vote of confidence, and Pixel will give even less confidence than Nexus. The “Nexus” branding actually made sense, whereas “Pixel” makes me think that Google should hire someone to come up with a better rebranding label than that.

The source says that it doesn’t know the fate of the Nexus line, though with HTC’s participation in creating the Google Pixel and Pixel XL, it doesn’t look good. It appears as though Russian blogger Eldar Murtazin’s claim back in 2014 about the Nexus line being rebranded now rings true. Turns out Murtazin wasn’t as wrong as most thought he was 2 years ago.

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