Motorola built the Nexus 6 in partnership with Google two years ago and now everyone agrees that the device was too ambitious for its time.
Leaders from Motorola admit that Nexus 6 was too large, pointing out that the experience taught the company a lot about the phone market and its demands.
Adrienne Hayes, Motorola's chief marketing officer, spoke to Techradar and explained why the crafting of the phone resulted in a flop.
"It was right about this time period that we were jumping screen sizes so quickly," Hayes says.
According to the Motorola CMO, it was a period in the mobile industry when nobody knew how much screen sizes will continue to expand, or whether the risk would pay off.
"I think that was one of the products that was going to be the example of no, it's not," Hayes concurs.
She further mentions that Google did have a strong say in the specs of Nexus 6, and a big phablet-like screen was a priority. Even if Motorola was ready to pack the specs with a similar screen as the one on Moto X, Google insisted on having a bigger screen size.
Moto X (the first model) entered the market carrying a 4.7-inch display, alongside a design that heralded the future Nexus. Motorola points out that even if Google "had some influence" on the topic of the larger screen, they left the manufacturer call the shots.
"They let the manufacturing partner drive the industrial design," Hayes observes.
Nexus 6 landed in 2014 with a boastful 5.96-inch display. The device was coldly received, not in small part due to the fact that 2013 had seen the launch of Nexus 5, which is famed to be one of the best Nexus smartphones to date. The Nexus 5 sported a 4.95-inch display.
Check out our side-by-side comparison between Nexus 5 and 6 to get a better idea of the handsets' differences.
The fact that Nexus 6 came with an overstretched screen made it difficult to manipulate one-handedly. On the bright side, the handset neatly fitted the role of a media consumption device.
According to Hayes, Motorola is ready to enter another Nexus partnership.
"You learn as you go," Hayes notes.
Meanwhile, Google chose Huawei as its team-mate for building Nexus 6P and LG got the mission of manufacturing the Nexus 5X. Maybe this year will bring another Motorola-branded Nexus, but it remains to be seen.
