With Google’s Nexus devices, does ‘in with the new’ have to mean ‘out with the old’?

Dear Google: 

It sounds like you might have a new, larger Nexus phone and tablet on the way sometime soon. That’s pretty darn exciting.

But you know what’d be really cool? If you were to keep selling the current Nexus 5 phone and Nexus 7 tablet alongside those new products. Sure, everyone loves new stuff. But in this day and age, a mobile device doesn’t have to be put out to pasture just because it’s last year’s model.

There’s a real market for both the 5- and 7-in. device forms, as you clearly know — and the Nexus 5 and 7 are still exceptionally good devices and exceptional values for their respective classes. I realize it’s not how you typically do things, but I’d love to be able to continue recommending those products to people who want smaller and less expensive choices than what you’re probably going to launch this fall.

As a certain other tech giant has learned, it doesn’t always have to be one or the other; there’s room for multiple generations within the same product family. That’s especially true when the generations have such drastically different types of appeal — you know, a normal-sized 5-in. phone vs. a mammoth 6-in. device and a palmable 7-in. tablet vs. a two-hand-requiring 9-in. slate.

So by all means, bring on the new stuff — but maybe also think about continuing to offer the old, wouldya? Remember, whenever you drop the price of a past-generation product, it sells like hotcakes. Demand doesn’t vanish just because something newer has appeared. Even with a modest price shift, last year’s devices could flesh out your lineup and fill an important void — if only you’ll let them.

Love,

Skeptical But Hopeful