With leaks and speculation about the next Nexus phone reaching fever pitch, the Play Store's inventory of Nexus devices is under closer scrutiny than ever.

As of this evening, the Nexus 4's 16GB flavor has joined its 8GB counterpart in "out of inventory" limbo.

When the 8GB variant hit "out of inventory" status, Google told the Verge there were no plans to restock it, despite the promising "please check back soon" following the ominous inventory status. This of course lead to speculation that the Nexus 4 price drop was really more like a clearance sale.

The Verge has confirmed with "a trusted source with knowledge of the company's plans" that Google has no plans to restock the 16GB Nexus 4.

Also worth noting is the fact that the LTE variant of the new Nexus 7 (which just got its first factory image today) has been listed as "not for sale at this time" since this morning.

Update: It looks like the Nexus 7 LTE variant is now back in stock.

Does this mean an impending reveal for the new Nexus phone? No one can say for sure, but one thing is beyond doubt – Google is pressing exactly the right buttons to make this Nexus season particularly excruciating.