After working with third-party smartphone vendors on the Nexus lineup for years, Google is finally toying with the idea of building its own handset, according to some employees. It’s thought the search giant is keen to have a stab at taking on the iPhone all by itself.

Google’s Nexus smartphones — which have been manufactured by Samsung, LG, Motorola, and HTC — have all been good smartphones for the money (perhaps excluding the Nexus 6). But not many would consider them truly excellent smartphones.

All of the Nexus handsets we’ve had so far have had their weaknesses. Some had cheap and tacky designs, others had poor displays and speakers, and almost all of them — apart from the most recent handsets — have had terrible cameras.

You can overlook this if you’re a hardcore Android fan and you want pure Google software at a competitive price — but these things can be deal-breakers for iPhone users who are thinking about switching. It’s obviously in Google’s interest to change that.

One way it could do that, according to a report from The Information, citing “people who work at Google,” is to build its own smartphone from scratch, taking complete control over not only the software, but the hardware, too. Recent reports have suggested Google may even design its own chips.

We know Google can build good hardware; it has proven that with devices like the Chromebook Pixel and the upcoming Pixel C — so building its own iPhone rival may be a stellar idea. But you shouldn’t get your hopes up just yet; “discussions” are far from concrete plans.

• SourceThe Information