LG Electronics is manufacturing Google’s successor to the Pixel XL codenamed “Taimen,” as suggested by a bug report log that was uncovered in the Android Issue Tracker’s database earlier today. In a short exchange over “USB PD Compliance Failure” that can be seen beneath this writing, one Google employee told an LG engineer to close the said bug report and move it to a “Power” subdirectory whose full path is Android > Partner > External > LGE > Taimen. The classification of the issue indicates that the South Korean original equipment manufacturer (OEM) is developing a device referred to as “Taimen,” heavily implying that LG is making the successor to the 2016 Pixel XL.
The Pixel XL 2 or however Google opts to call its upcoming handset is said to be one of the company’s two flagship Android devices that are expected to be released later this year, with the Alphabet-owned tech giant reportedly discontinuing a third phone codenamed “Muskie.” Initial reports of Muskie’s cancellation emerged on Monday but provided no specific details on the matter, with industry sources now claiming that the device was scrapped due to poor battery life and not being cost-effective in general. The original Pixel and Pixel XL were manufactured by HTC and the Taiwanese consumer electronics company may still be making the successor to the smaller device. Recent reports indicate that the Pixel 2-series handsets will sport an unconventional aspect ratio of 1.95:1 that’s extremely similar to the 2:1 (16:8) image format of the LG G6 and industry sources previously claimed that Google itself was recently looking to invest $880 million into LG Display’s OLED operations in an effort to secure a stable supply of panels for its future Pixel devices.
Regardless of whether one or more of the upcoming Pixel handsets will be manufactured by LG, they are unlikely to feature any kind of LG branding as Google is expected to continue its “made by Google” marketing push that started with the Pixel and Pixel XL. The company’s next-generation smartphones may be officially announced come fall, approximately one year after their predecessors were introduced. More details on the Pixel 2 series and Google’s other hardware efforts should follow in the coming months.