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Google is looking to expand its Nexus range in more ways than one with an 8-inch version, according to supply chain sources anonymously quoted by industry gossipmonger Digitimes.
Likely to be built by Asus, like the Nexus 7, it could feature the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon or Intel Bay Trail-T chips.
This mooted Nexus 8 would appear some time in the summer, the report says. Its raison d’etre is to counter waning demand for the most recent Nexus 7, which has been deeply undercut by good quality 7-inch tablets.
The 16GB Nexus 7 is £199 in the UK — a bargain for Full HD fiends, but expensive compared to the £119 Tesco Hudl, for example. Tesco’s tablet is the same size and while it has a slightly worse screen and slower processor, doesn’t suffer in comparison for most people.
The idea of the Nexus range is to set the bar for Android devices, giving you good quality options at a few different prices so the ecosystem isn’t beset by shoddy rubbish. There are some pathetic products, of course — I’m looking at you, Bush MyTablet — but because there’s someone saying, “This is what an Android gadget is supposed to look like,” they can’t charge much for them.
An 8-inch slate would therefore have top-notch specs like the latest, most powerful chips and a Full HD screen — or maybe even better, like the mooted 2,560×1,440-pixel screens likely to be on this year’s most expensive devices. I’d expect prices to start at around the £250 mark for a 16GB model, and probably see the Nexus 7 take a price cut.
We still haven’t seen a replacement for the ageing Nexus 10, now well over a year old.
“We don’t comment on rumour or speculation,” a Google spokesperson told me in a statement.
Would you welcome a classy new 8-inch Nexus? What kind of specs and price would you like to see? Lay out your vision down in the comments, or on our cutting-edge Facebook page.
