Things have changed drastically for Chinese smartphone companies in the past few years. They have evolved to manufacture products that are in line with the international companies. As a result, we have seen companies like Xiaomi, Huawei and even OnePlus grow pretty quickly.

The latest Nexus smartphone was from the former Google company, Motorola. Even the Nexus 9 tablet was manufactured by HTC, taking over the reins from ASUS, who manufactured the older Nexus 7 model. Now, it looks like Google could go with a new company again, this time a Chinese manufacturer for its next Nexus.

The news comes via Weibo which states that Google has gone with a Chinese phone maker for the release of a new Nexus device for the second half of this year. While the source fails to reveal the name of the company, we do have a few guesses, given that right now there are many good Chinese companies in the market.

Lenovo, Xiaomi, Huawei and even ZTE could be the next OEM to partner with Google. Lenovo’s recent acquisition of Motorola gives it an edge and hence, there’s a very good chance that the source is hinting at this company. However, without Motorola, Lenovo has very little expertise in the smartphone segment and its smartphones aren’t as popular as the ones from Xiaomi or even Huawei.

Anyways, if this is indeed true, then we will definitely hear more about the company in the coming months. The source slates a announcement in the second half of the year, which means there’s still plenty of time.

However, till that time, unless we hear an official announcement from the company or its officials, we can’t really confirm the news. We will be keeping a close eye on Weibo for any further updates.

The post Rumors: Next Google Nexus 7 phone could be from a Chinese manufacturer appeared first on Gizmochina.