We heard these rumors earlier that Google is launching a 7-inch Nexus tablet. Now Digitimes reports that Google and Asus might launch a 7-inch tablet as early as next month. The source of the rumor is upstream supply chain. The report also claims that initial shipments are estimated at 600,000 units.
The rumored tablet will launch officially in July according to the report. The announcement may come at the time of Google I/O developer conference in June. Asus on it’s part declined to comment on the report. According to the report Google 7-inch tablet is originally slated for May release, but due to design costs and didn’t meet the expectations, so it is delayed to July for some minor adjustments. While the initial shipments are estimated at 600,000 units, the tablet is supposed to see around 2-2.5 million units in 2012.
With the launch of 7-inch tablets by several manufacturers including Samsung, Acer and Asus we might see price war among the manufacturers for the 7-inch tablet market. NVIDIA’s Kai platform which is targeted towards low cost Android 4.0 tablets in the range of $199 running Tegra 3 system on chip also fuels this kind of reports.