New Android Features

Google plans to add new features to the Android operating system to better differentiate its Nexus mobile devices from those offered by Apple Inc.

The company, a unit of Alphabet Inc., plans to "put a lot more thought" into its Nexus devices, which could entail customizing the Android software that runs them, Google Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai said at Recode’s Code Conference Wednesday.

Google licenses Android, the world’s largest mobile operating system, for free to handset makers such as Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics and Lenovo Group. This gets its money-making web services, such as search, onto lots of mobile devices, but also means there are many different phones with varied software and apps that work in different ways.

These fragmentation issues mean Android phones are often harder to use and sometimes less capable than iPhones, which have software and hardware designed only