If you were looking for Google Play Edition devices, the Google Play Store used to play home to six devices. This included the HTC One M8, the Moto G, the Samsung Galaxy S4, the HTC One M7, the Sony Xperia Z Ultra, and the LG G Pad 8.3. However interestingly enough, Google has recently made some changes to the Google Play Store, removing three devices in the process. All that remains is the HTC One M8, the Moto G, and the Samsung Galaxy S4. We guess some of the removals makes sense. After all why keep the HTC One M7 when its successor is available, right? Although the removal of the Xperia Z Ultra and LG G Pad 8.3 has us wondering if it could be due to lack of popularity.
Last month, we reported that the Xperia Z Ultra, LG G Pad 8.3, HTC One M7, and Galaxy S4 Google Play Edition devices were all appearing as out of stock on the Play Store for several weeks. Today, Google officially removed the Z Ultra, G Pad, and M7 from the Play Store, and they no longer appear under the Google Play Edition devices section. The remaining three phones are the One M8, Moto G, and Galaxy S4. The S4, though, has been continuously out of stock for around three weeks now, so its demise seem inevitable, as well. A long-rumored Galaxy S5 GPE device has yet to materialize, though, even after months of the phone being on the market, and the introduction of the altogether unexpected Samsung Gear Live Android Wear smartwatch. Could Google Play Edition devices be winding down? Or are we merely in a holding phase while Google ramps up the next generation of GPE hardware? It’s hard to say. With rumors swirling aroundAndroid Silver and the upcoming Nexus tablet, Google Play Experience devices may end up being deprecated as unnecessary. They clearly were never intended to be sold in mass quantities, that much is sure.
