Samsung confirms Galaxy Nexus will not officially launch in India

In October last year, Samsung officially took the wraps off their Galaxy Nexus smartphone. This was one of the major smartphone announcements of last year, as not only was it a flagship smartphone from Google, but also it was the first handset that was available with Google’s latest operating system - Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Shortly after it was unveiled, Google put up a dedicated page showing when this handset would launch and at the time it was believed that India would be one of the first countries to receive the smartphone. However, months have passed since that and India is yet to receive this smartphone and the Google page for the Nexus still states the phone's arrival status as - ‘Coming Soon.’ For those who were interested in purchasing this handset, Samsung, through their Twitter account has dropped some bad news our way.

Something BIG is not making its way to India

When responding to a tweet, Samsung India has stated, “The Galaxy Nexus will not be launched in India. Watch this space for the next big thing!” From the looks of it, Samsung is preparing to launch the yet unannounced Galaxy S3 smartphone, instead and have thrashed the plans for unveiling the Galaxy Nexus. In a report related to the Galaxy Nexus, BGR.in stated, “a company spokesperson had told BGR India that due to too many product introductions (primarily the Galaxy Note) the Galaxy Nexus launch had been rescheduled for January.” The report goes on to state, “The non-launching of a Nexus device in India is not new. The first Nexus smartphone (with HTC) was never officially launched in India. Even the Nexus S (with Samsung) was introduced in India close to the device’s end of life. From what we hear, Samsung was worried that the Galaxy Nexus would have cannibalized sales of its Galaxy Note phablet.”

For those who are still keen on picking up this smartphone, you can buy it unofficially from the grey market at a street price of 29,999. For those who are in the dark regarding this handset, here is a quick look at its specifications:

• Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
• 1.2GHz Dual Core Processor
• 1GB RAM
• Dimensions are 135.5 x 67.94 x 8.94mm
• Weighs 135g
• 4.65-inch 1280 x 720 HD Super AMOLED display
• 5 Megapixel AF with LED Flash with zero shutter lag and fast shot2shot
• 1.3 Megapixel front facing camera for video calling
• 1080p Full HD video recording at 30fps
• 1080p video playback at 30fps
• Bluetooth 3.0,USB 2.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, NFC
• 16GB internal storage
• HSPA 21Mbps/HSUPA 5.76Mbps 850/900/1900/1700/2100
• EDGE/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900
• LTE version is region specific
• 3.5mm audio jack
• 1,750mAh battery

We had a chance to review this handset and here is what we thought about it. Let us know your thoughts on Samsung not launching the Galaxy Nexus in India.