Owning a Nexus device brings with it a number of benefits or aspects which are more often thought of as exclusive elements. For instance, as these are devices which run on stock Android, getting the latest version of Android is something which happens very early for Nexus device owners. You only have to look at the recently released developer preview of Android N to see how early it can be. While most smartphones are still waiting on their Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) update to arrive, Nexus smartphone owners already have the option to run Android N.
That said, this might be about to change as an eagle-eyed spotter on reddit has noticed some very interesting code hidden within the Android N Preview site. There is a section listed ‘New in the Android N Developer Preview’ and under that section is one particular line which reads as follows “More supported devices, including devices from OEM partners.” Needles to say, the line of code does clearly hint at the likelihood that the Android N developer preview will eventually allow OEM partner devices to gain access to the preview. In fact, the first part of the line sounds as if the device compatibility will be even greater than just OEM partner devices. Of course, at the moment this is just a line of the code and not anything by way of an actual announcement. So while the code is there, it could be just an idea being toyed with or preparations for what might happen. Either way, until there is any form of official announcement on the topic, it does just remain as a line of HTML code for now.
For what it is worth though, this will be an interesting development to the program and especially as this year saw the Android team introduce a new way to install the preview without having to manually flash the new version. By simply enrolling a supported device in the Android Beta Program, device owners are able to receive the developer preview via an OTA update. Going back to the main point, if the availability to the program is expanded and additional devices from the likes of Samsung and LG are able to make use of the OTA feature, then this will be a significant change to the way in which many non-Nexus device owners get to experience the latest version of Android.