Asus is apparently set to displace Samsung as the manufacturer of the large-screen Nexus tablet, with Motorola taking over the mantle for the next Nexus smartphone, according to reports.

Asus is already the manufacturer of the 7-inch Nexus tablet, which has recently been updated. Geek.com suggested that through its existing partnership with Google, the Taiwanese device maker has “demonstrated that Asus is more than capable of keeping up with the speed of Android by creating hardware that allows Google to keep close to their price points from last year”.

The current manufacturer of the 10-inch Nexus device, Samsung, already has a solid Android tablet line under its own Galaxy and Galaxy Note brands.

It is expected that the newly-updated Nexus 10 will be launched before the Christmas holiday sales period.

Meanwhile, the Motorola/Nexus smartphone rumours appear to come from a single source: a tweet by Taylor Wimberly, a writer for website Android and Me.

While in many ways it seems to make sense that the next Nexus is a  Motorola device – the company is owned by Google, after all – there are also reasons why this may not be the case.

Google has previously pledged to keep a level playing field in the Android vendor space, and while it has previously worked with numerous vendors on Nexus devices – including Samsung, LG, HTC and Asus – this does not change the fact that Motorola is now a subsidiary.

Motorola has also recently announced its own flagship device, Moto X (pictured), the central features of which include US assembly and customisation options. This new model is likely to see the company’s logistics operation challenged – at least initially – making the launch of another high-profile device in a short timeframe unlikely.

Motorola has also recently announced new devices for US number-one operator Verizon Wireless.