Worried that the Google lineup of Nexus devices has been scrapped in favor of the more high-end "Silver" program? Rest easy, folks: Nexus is here to stay.

Dave Burke, the head of Android engineering and the Nexus program at Google, told ReadWrite that the Nexus program isn't going anywhere. It's a safe bet that a new Nexus smartphone, currently dubbed the Nexus 6 will debut in the fall to bolster the public release of Android L, the newest version of Android revealed at Google I/O's keynote Monday.

"People just get excited by concepts and forget why we do things," Burke said during the interview. "We are still invested in Nexus." 

The current Google Nexus lineup includes the Nexus 5 smartphone, Nexus 7 tablet and Nexus 10 tablet. In fact, Nexus devices are an integral part of the Android building process, Burke said:

"When we are working, there are sort of two outputs. We're building a Nexus device and we're building the open source code. There is no way you can build the open source code without the phone or tablet or whatever you are building. You have to live and breathe the code you are developing. You can't build a platform in the abstract, you have to build a device (or devices). So, I don't think can can or will ever go away. And then, I think Nexus is also interesting in that it is a way of us explaining how we think Android should run. It is a statement, almost a statement of purity in some respects. I don't see why we would ever turn away from that, it wouldn't make sense."

There you have it.

While nothing concrete is known about the Nexus 6, some early pundits are pegging their money on a 5.5-inch 2K display, a quad-core 2.7GHz processor and 3GB RAM. The rear-facing camera could shoot at 13 megapixels, while the front-facing camera takes pictures at 5 megapixels. Remember, this is all rumor, so ingest with a healthy helping of salt.

But what exactly is the Silver program that was supposed to dismantle Nexus? According to early rumors, Silver involves manufacturers, such as LG and Samsung, building devices for Google based on Google specifications. The end goal is for Google to have greater control over the top-tier smartphone market where it can compete against Apple (Nexus devices are budget oriented). In a way, it's similar to the Android One program but aimed at a different audience.

Burke, however, wouldn't comment.

"Android Silver is not something that we are commenting on right now," he said.

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