Huawei is in the frame to manufacture a Nexus smartphone for Google again this year, a regional manager for the company confirmed.

According to Gearburn, Charlene Munilall, general manager for Huawei South Africa, said: “We’re doing the Nexus again this year, by the way.”

The first Nexus device from Huawei was announced last year (Nexus 6P).

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, recently indicated that the company will be “more opinionated” when working with its Nexus vendor partners, beyond pushing the latest, unmodified, version of Android.

“Today the Nexus phones have Android integrated, but now you will see us add more features on top, so there’s a lot more software innovation to be had,” he said.

Reports earlier this year suggested that Google had signed a wide-ranging deal with HTC to work on Nexus devices, although the vendor has not been drawn on the issue.

Of course, Google often works with multiple vendors (an LG Electronics device was announced at the same time as Nexus 6P).