The recently announced Google Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P have been one of the most anticipated devices of the year. The devices will be sold in the U.S. exclusively through Google Play Store, which some speculate is to promote Project Fi. But things are being done quite differently abroad. In Japan, along with official Google Play Store, the Nexus devices will be sold by three other carriers though no two carriers will be selling the same model. It was recently reported that SoftBank will be the exclusive carrier of the Nexus 6P in Japan. The pre-orders will start today – October 9th. These new devices are a part of its new Fall 2015/Winter 2016 lineup. However only the 64 GB version is up for sale, limiting the choices for the customers.
The bright side to this is the Gold color variant is also available to pre-order. The Gold color was launched only in Japan and has been quite popular among customers, with some going as far as to import the model from the land of the rising sun. The pricing has not been officially announced by the carrier, although it seems the price would be kept same as official Google prices in Play Store, if not more, as SoftBank is likely to add carrier charges with the device as well. It has been confirmed that SoftBank will not sell any of the colors of the 128 GB variant, raising doubts on whether Google itself will launch the Gold variant in 32 GB or 128 GB configuration.
Carrier NTT Docomo has announced the new lineup that includes the 32 GB variant of Nexus 5X, in Quartz or Carbon color. Y!mobile, owned by Softbank has also updated their listing including the new lineup of devices. Surprisingly included is the Nexus 5X of the ice color variant only. No pricing has been announced as the devices will only be available by the end of October.
The reason why so many carriers in Japan is offering the new Nexus lineup when Google is already selling it there, can be attributed to the absence of Samsung Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge+ from the market, and the relative success of Nexus 6 last year. The “Sim Free” product is also new and unfamiliar to conventional Japanese customers, hindering the sale of unlocked Google products in the markets.